On the morning of April 26, concluding the second meeting of the Steering Committee for key projects and national important projects in the railway sector, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, Head of the Steering Committee, said that it is necessary to "be faster and bolder" to develop the railway industry to serve the country's two 100-year goals.

Implementing the Resolutions and conclusions of the Central Executive Committee, the Politburo, and the National Assembly, the country is implementing four important, large-scale railway projects, including: the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway; the Hanoi - Lang Son and Hai Phong - Mong Cai railways; the North - South high-speed railway; and urban railway projects in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

At the first meeting of the Steering Committee in March 2025, the Prime Minister, Head of the Steering Committee, assigned tasks to ministries, branches and localities, focusing on removing difficulties and obstacles, speeding up investment preparation procedures for projects, including 19 scheduled tasks and 5 regular tasks.

In particular, focusing on specific tasks: Building project profiles; preparing feasibility study reports, building specific projects; overall technical design; building and perfecting institutions, especially specific and special policy mechanisms for projects; adjusting regulations on forest land use; building a project to develop railway science and technology; developing the railway industry; mobilizing and allocating capital for projects; training human resources to serve the development of the railway industry; clearing land for projects...

According to ministries, branches and localities, up to now, all 24 tasks are being actively implemented, of which 12 out of 19 tasks are on schedule, 6 have been completed, and 1 task is behind schedule.

Concluding the meeting, the Prime Minister commended and highly appreciated the careful preparation of documents and reports by the Ministry of Construction at the meeting; welcomed a number of ministries, branches and localities that proactively and effectively implemented their tasks, and the urgent and serious working spirit of the members of the Steering Committee, with frank, responsible and dedicated opinions.

Recalling the spirit of “faster, faster; bolder, bolder” of the historic April days 50 years ago when the South was liberated and the country was reunified, the Prime Minister requested ministries, branches and localities to be more proactive and active, closely following the Party’s guidelines and policies, the State’s policies and laws, the resolutions, conclusions and directions of the Central Committee, the Politburo, the National Assembly, the Government and the Prime Minister to organize and implement railway projects and develop the railway industry to serve the country’s two 100-year goals.

Emphasizing that the unchanged goal is to start the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway project in 2025 and the North - South high-speed railway in 2026, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh requested to mobilize maximum and diversify capital sources including the central and local capital, loans, bond issuance capital; through public-private partnership and other forms of cooperation such as BOT, BT... to build the projects.

Believing that in order to implement the projects, it is necessary to first build and perfect institutions, legal systems, mechanisms and policies, the Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Justice to urgently complete the Resolution unifying specific mechanisms for all railway projects, submit it to the Government in April 2025 to submit to the National Assembly before the 9th Session of the 15th National Assembly in early May. Along with that, ministries and branches urgently build and submit to the Government for promulgation 4 related decrees to have a legal basis for synchronous implementation of the projects.

In particular, the Ministry of Construction will take the lead in drafting the Decree on overall technical design and specific, special mechanisms and the Decree on criteria for selecting enterprises to order the provision of services and goods; the Ministry of Science and Technology will take the lead in drafting the Decree on railway science and technology development; the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment will take the lead in drafting the Decree on temporary use and forest return. The decrees will be completed in May 2025.

According to the Prime Minister, to build the railway industry, there must be a transfer plan to master science and technology; mobilize investment capital sources; train human resources and have smart management science... The Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Construction to preside over the development of the Prime Minister's Decision on the list of railway industrial goods services, to be completed no later than the first half of June 2025; the Ministry of Industry and Trade to preside over the development of the Project on railway industry development; the Ministry of Education and Training to preside over the development of the Project on human resource development; to be completed in the second quarter of 2025.

Regarding the negotiation of the Loan Agreement, the Prime Minister requested the Ministry of Construction to proactively coordinate with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Finance to continue to discuss and work with the Chinese side to soon complete the negotiation of the Loan Agreement, meeting the progress of the Project implementation.

The Prime Minister pointed out that the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway must be built with the most direct route, building bridges across rivers, filling soil across fields, and digging mountains across mountains. The Prime Minister assigned the Ministry of Construction to promptly complete the route as a basis; localities must proactively clear the land by September 2025. Agencies continue to discuss, work, and urge the Chinese side to soon complete the negotiation of the loan agreement, meeting the project implementation schedule.

Regarding the high-speed railway project on the North-South axis, in Resolution No. 106/NQ-CP, the Government approved the overall implementation plan, ensuring construction starts no later than December 2026. The Prime Minister requested ministries, branches and localities to base on the overall progress milestones and assigned tasks to develop plans for the sector, field and locality.

Regarding urban railway projects in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the Prime Minister pointed out that the Central Government has decentralized to localities, so the two cities must closely follow the content of Resolution 188/2015/QH15 of the National Assembly and the city's specific mechanisms and policies to organize implementation; if there are any problems, they must report and request relevant ministries and branches to provide further guidance.

“The People's Committees of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City urgently develop detailed plans and work progress to implement the policy mechanisms of Resolution No. 188/2025/QH15 applicable to the two cities and issue separate plans for each city under the local authority,” the Prime Minister noted.

Directing the Vietnam Electricity Group to proactively coordinate with the Ministry of Construction and localities to urgently relocate technical infrastructure works, the Prime Minister requested to mobilize corporations, state-owned enterprises and private enterprises with technological and production capacity to participate in projects and develop the railway industry. In particular, the Military Industry-Telecoms Group (Viettel) and the Vietnam Posts and Telecommunications Group (VNPT) will take the lead in proactively researching and implementing work to receive, develop and master the technology of information systems, signals and control systems of railway projects.

Vietnam Railway Corporation urgently coordinates with Hanoi People's Committee to implement procedures related to Railway Industrial Complex serving railway projects, report to competent authorities for consideration and decision. In addition, research on assigning tasks to large private corporations, as long as there is no negativity, corruption, or waste.