(Engineering Daily) Nguyen Anh Duong = Vietnamese government announce will make the appraisal council which will study afresh the controversial North-South high-speed railway.
The State Appraisal Council, which will reassess the pre-feasibility study reports for the North-South high-speed railway project, will be headed by Minister of Planning and Investment Nguyen Chi Dung, according to a decision issued Thursday by PM Nguyen Xuan Phuc.
The move follows two ministries coming up with vastly different cost estimates for the project, which had already attracted controversy earlier over its multiple billion dollar price tag.
The council's members will include leaders of the ministries of Transport, Finance, Construction, Natural Resources and Environment, Industry and Trade, as well as representatives from the State Bank of Vietnam, the Committee for Management of State Capital and leaders of the 20 provinces and municipalities that the railway would pass through.
It will have the rights and responsibilities of an appraisal council for a project of national importance, including the right to request relevant documents from investors and contracted consultants.
Also be allowed to hire domestic and foreign consultancy consortiums to ensure independence and objectivity in assessing the work of project consultants.
The council would be dissolved once the appraisal is completed.
