HANOI, April 19 (Engineering Daily) -- One of the bottlenecks on the North South Railway Line is Khe Net (Quang Binh province) will be habilitated to shorten time and improve the train running capacity.
Minister of Ministry of Planning and Investment, Mr. Nguyen Chi Dung, has just signed the written request to Prime Minister for consideration and approval of the Railway rehabilitation project at Khe Net pass on Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City Line using Korean ODA loan and non-refundable aid of Korea to review and update project feasibility study.
Mr. Dung also suggested the Prime Minister to authorize this Ministry on behalf of the Government to send the diplomatic note to Korea side requesting to provide ODA loan and grants for technical assistance to review and update of project feasibility study.
The project that is invested by MOT to ensure the safety and quality of North South Railway transportation, will be rehabilitated and constructed for 2 tunnels to shorten 2 km of distance, section Dong Chuoi-Kim Lu and Vinh-Dong Hoi.
Total investment of the project is approximately USD 87.5 million (equivalent to VND 1,953 billion), including USD 78 million by the Korean government through EDCF loans and Vietnamese Government counterpart fund of USD 9.5 million.
According to MOC proposal, execution time for this key railway project is 5 years counted from completion of all procedure to start implementing the project.
Reportedly, in 2012, the project list has been approved by the Prime Minister using Chinese concessional loans. However, due to the Chinese side cannot provide credit, the Prime Minister has agreed to replace them with other donors. In the framework of financial cooperation Vietnam - Korea, through a number of discussions and working together between the MOT and KEXIM delegation to find out missions and preparation of project, the project has received the interest and funding from Korean side. The project implementation is to reduce the cost, train running time, improve railway safety and save maintenance cost consistent with the strategy, planning, plans and current regulations.
“Thus, Ministry of Planning and Investment affirms that Korean ODA loan to implement the project is necessary and possible, in accordance with current law and regulations and former Decisions of the Prime Minister”, said Minister Dung.
