Talking to Giao Thong Newspaper, Mr. Nguyen Ba Son, Deputy Head of Hanoi Urban Railway Project Management Board, shared that over the past 14 years of implementation, the project has overcome countless difficulties and challenges, no different from a "rafting through rapids".

Choking like witnessing "brainchild getting married"

After many years of waiting, the 8.5km elevated section of the Nhon - Hanoi Railway Station metro line has officially been put into commercial operation. How do you feel now?

Honestly, I was so moved at that moment, choked up as if seeing my "brainchild getting married". We were proud because all the effort we put in over a long period of time had paid off.

In recent days, to serve the trial operation, we have been working hard, almost day and night continuously for more than half a month. By July 30, the project was eligible to be granted a certificate of appraisal for commercial exploitation.

How do you personally feel about the impatience of the people and public opinion when the project missed the deadline many times?

The project was decided to invest in 2009. I did not participate in the project from the beginning but only transferred to the Hanoi Urban Railway Project Management Board at the end of 2017.

Before that, I had worked in the railway industry for 16 years. When I took over the Nhon - Hanoi Railway Station project, a number of packages were under construction, such as overpasses and elevated stations. The equipment packages had just signed contracts and were waiting for capital procedures and loan agreements to be able to disburse the advance payment before starting.

During that time, I witnessed many ups and downs of the project. We understood the impatience of the people. We ourselves were also under a lot of pressure when the project could not be completed due to many problems.

The most difficult thing is capital and premises.

When the Cat Linh - Ha Dong line is put into operation, the Nhon - Hanoi Railway Station line still has no finish date. At that time, what do managers like you think?

We had to compare and review the route plans to find every solution to speed up the progress. Each urban railway project has its own difficulties. The Cat Linh - Ha Dong route also had many similar difficulties.

It is estimated that on the first day of commercial operation of the elevated section, the Nhon - Hanoi Railway Station metro line served more than 20,000 passengers. Photo: Ta Hai.

Nhon - Hanoi Railway Station project has packages signed in 2012, 2016, 2017.

The bidding packages were carried out in accordance with the correct procedures and were implemented from 2014 to 2016. During the review and actual implementation process, we found that during the project preparation phase, the consultants had made a somewhat optimistic plan.

With the conditions of Vietnam and the first line implemented in Hanoi, they only used the experience of France to implement it in 6 years. That was an ambitious and unachievable plan, in fact that plan was not feasible.

The project was scheduled to be completed in 2015, but this milestone has now been moved to 2027. So what is the biggest difficulty in implementing the project, sir?

The name "Pilot Urban Railway Nhon - Hanoi Railway Station" itself shows that this is the first project of the city, everything is new. This is a large-scale project, with a large total investment, new technology, passing through a crowded inner-city area and 4km underground.

First, regarding site clearance, this will take 1-6 years depending on the item, especially the underground section. Current regulations do not provide specific guidance on compensation for underground space for affected households. We have proposed that the City People's Committee develop a separate policy framework for the underground section, including temporary compensation for affected residents.

At the same time, the compensation price is not commensurate with the market price, so the negotiation process with the people is difficult, slowing down the site clearance process.

Another difficulty is the procedural order for implementation, when there are projects with adjustments, loan extensions are very complicated, going through many steps for approval by ministries and branches. Each adjustment also takes 6 months to 2 years. Therefore, payment to contractors is slow. Capital allocation is not timely, leading to failure to meet progress.

The project contracts all apply international contract models, with different conditions compared to Vietnamese regulations. During the implementation process, we had to consult many agencies.

At the same time, because we do not have a set of urban railway standards, we have to apply different standards according to ODA capital. For example, the Nhon - Hanoi Railway Station line follows European standards, while the Cat Linh - Ha Dong line follows Chinese standards. The unit price for urban railways is also not available yet, mainly based on contractor quotes and consultants' assessments.

Pressure surrounds

What pressures have you and the leaders of the Hanoi Urban Railway Project Management Board had to endure?

There were times when the project was progressing well and it seemed like it would be completed on time. But due to many difficulties as mentioned, especially the loan agreement not being extended, leading to late payments to the contractor, they stopped the construction. At that time, we were under a lot of pressure.

European contractors are very fair, unlike Asian contractors, they only know how to work according to the contract. If payment is not made within 56 days according to the contract, they will stop the construction. This is also a lesson for us to review the procedures in implementation.

For Vietnamese contractors, even if they only have a part of the site, they will still work, but for foreign contractors, they must have the whole site before they can work.

During that process, how did the authorities and the city intervene and support after receiving the report, sir?

Every time the contractor stopped construction, we had to report to the City People's Committee to direct the relevant districts to coordinate to resolve the issue, persuade the people to accept and then resolve it. The total time for the contractor to return to construction was also 15 months. At those times, we were extremely pressured. The locality was responsible for the site clearance, but we always had to find ways to accompany and find solutions.

There are periods of delayed payment, according to regulations, the contractor has the right to stop construction or terminate the contract if it is prolonged. We have reported to the city, the Government allows for a special mechanism such as advance payment from the city budget. After the loan agreement is extended, that money will be returned.

With the desire to soon put a part of the route into commercial operation, we reported to the city and the Government and were allowed to exploit the elevated section first.

Hope people share

How are the underground sections currently being implemented? Do you believe 2027 will be the final milestone?

The underground section is 4km long, including 4 underground stations and 1 underground ramp. The overall progress is currently at 43%, including the construction of the bottom slab and platform level of 4 underground stations. We have been drilling underground since July 30 at a speed of 10m/day and night, the entire underground section will be completed in 16 months.

The 8.5km elevated section of the Nhon - Hanoi Railway Station urban railway line officially opened for commercial operation on August 8 after 14 years of construction. Photo: Ta Hai.

After finishing drilling, the 2 robots will be removed from the ground, handing over the site to the equipment and system contractors to install rails, signal information, tickets, and complete the station architecture.

After completion, the system safety assessment and inspection system must also be integrated. The items must be completed by 2027.

Currently, the major obstacles have been resolved, but it cannot be said that the project will not have any more difficulties in the future. There are still many challenges to be solved, such as coordination and coordination between contractors. The project has 9 contractors, each underground section has 5 contractors closely related to each other.

For a long time, when mentioning urban railways, many people immediately think of capital overruns and delays. Do you think this can be changed?

Up to now, most urban railway lines have been delayed and over budget, that public opinion is correct. But our wish is for people to share. Because in reality, the policy mechanism is still not complete and synchronous, at the same time, there is not much experience in implementation.

Capital increase will obviously happen when the project is slow. Many countries like Japan and Korea have faced this situation before, then they made timely changes to speed up.

Everything is not easy, but that does not mean we do not try. With our responsibility, we always do our best to complete the plans we have built.

Lessons learned for future projects

Currently, Hanoi is submitting to the Central Government a master plan to build an urban railway system with 14 routes, which will be completed in about ten years. In your opinion, what is the significance of accessing technology, accumulating knowledge, and resolving difficulties and obstacles from this project?

Although only a part of the project has been put into operation, the elevated section is very important. We have partly relieved the pressure and learned many lessons to implement the underground section and other routes in the future.

According to the planning approved in 2016, Hanoi has 10 urban railway lines with a total length of 117km, and currently 4 more lines are being added. The implementation of the 14 lines is divided into investment phases. From now until 2030, about 300km will be completed, by 2035, about 400km will be completed, and the remaining part will be completed by 2045.

Through discussions with international partners and related units, the metro project is large in both scale and total investment, and the implementation process is complicated. In my opinion, to implement it, strong political determination is needed from the central to local levels.

Policies and regulations also need to consider specific and more flexible mechanisms to shorten the time for project approval and adjustment; attract and call for investment capital, not just depending on ODA capital. One of the solutions we propose is to implement the TOD model to generate revenue from the surplus value of land funds around metro stations, thereby generating additional capital.

Regarding site clearance, the policy needs to be one step ahead, possibly separating it into separate projects, so that when construction begins, the site is already available.

In addition, it is necessary to develop a common set of regulations and standards on urban railways to apply to all projects.

Human resources are also very important, but are currently in great shortage, especially high-quality human resources. It is necessary to promote human resource training right now, from construction engineers to electrical system operators, signal information staff, control, and train cars.

Thank you!