Social Affairs
Special mechanism for Hanoi’s Cat Linh-Ha Dong railway approved
The Prime Minister has approved a special mechanism to complete Hanoi’s Cat Linh-Ha Dong urban railway project in an effort to address numerous delays and cost overruns.
The Cat Linh-Ha Dong urban railway project was supposed to be completed by the end of this year. However, only 74% of the project has been finished since it broke ground in September 2010, according to the project’s management unit.
The investment in the project increased from a projected 542 million USD in 2008 to 892 million USD in 2014.
According to the special mechanism, proposed by the Ministry of Transport, the main contractor (China Railway Sixth Group) will be authorised to make decisions, especially on buying equipment, without having to seek time-consuming permission from State authorities. However, the contractor must ensure that prices do not exceed those set out in the signed contract.
The investment in the project increased from a projected 542 million USD in 2008 to 892 million USD in 2014.
According to the special mechanism, proposed by the Ministry of Transport, the main contractor (China Railway Sixth Group) will be authorised to make decisions, especially on buying equipment, without having to seek time-consuming permission from State authorities. However, the contractor must ensure that prices do not exceed those set out in the signed contract.
Regarding the selection of foreign contractors for safety assessments, the Prime Minister has agreed in principle that contractors will be chosen in accordance with Article 26 of the Law on Bidding, ensuring that selected contractors are qualified, have adequate experience and meet the requirements of the tender package.
On additional loans for the project, the Ministry of Planning and Investment and the Ministry of Finance were urged to promptly work with the Chinese side on reaching agreement on supplement preferential loans for the project.
The Prime Minister required the Ministry of Transport to review the preparation and implementation of the project as a lesson for the next steps of the project and other projects to ensure the efficiency, quality assurance and construction progress.
