Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chairs the second meeting of the Steering Committee for key projects and national important projects in the railway sector. Photo: Duong Giang/VNA

The conference was held directly at the Government Headquarters, online with 9 provinces and cities with railway projects in the area. Also attending the conference were: Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha, Deputy Head of the Steering Committee; Ministers, Heads of ministerial-level agencies, Government agencies; leaders of central ministries, branches and local leaders; leaders of large economic groups.

In his opening speech, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said that railways play an important role in passenger and cargo transport, however, in recent times, railway development has received little attention and has not been commensurate with the country's development.

Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chairs the second meeting of the Steering Committee for key projects and national important projects in the railway sector. Photo: Duong Giang/VNA

Recently, the Central Executive Committee and the Politburo have actively considered the Government's proposals related to the development of the railway sector, including: upgrading existing railway lines; reconnecting previously interrupted railway lines; implementing major railway projects such as the North-South high-speed railway, the railway connecting with China and urban railway lines in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The National Assembly issued Resolutions No. 172, No. 187 and No. 188 related to railway development, including: Resolution on investment policy for the North-South high-speed railway project; Resolution on investment policy for the Lao Cai - Hanoi - Hai Phong railway project; Resolution on piloting a number of specific and special mechanisms and policies to develop the urban railway network system in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

The Prime Minister said that railway development has many stages, many tasks, many items, with large investment; limited time, a lot of work, high requirements; while understanding and technological capacity are not high; requiring high determination, great effort, drastic action, finishing each task, identifying the focus and key points.

The second meeting of the Steering Committee for key projects and national important projects in the railway sector. Photo: Duong Giang/VNA

According to the Prime Minister, railway development involves many levels, many sectors, and many localities, so the Government established a Steering Committee for ministries, sectors, localities, and units to coordinate implementation based on their functions, tasks, and powers, with the view of promoting decentralization and delegation of authority "tasks belonging to which sector or field must be performed by that sector; tasks belonging to which locality must be performed by that locality" to speed up the progress and quality of implementation of railway transport projects.

Immediately after its establishment in March 2024, the Steering Committee held its first meeting. The Prime Minister assigned 24 tasks to ministries, branches, and localities, focusing on removing difficulties and obstacles, and speeding up procedures for preparing investment projects.

With the spirit of the historic April days 50 years ago, the Liberation of the South and the reunification of the country, the Prime Minister requested that members of the Steering Committee, ministries, branches, localities and units "be faster, faster; be bolder, be bolder", promote the sense of responsibility, assign "clearly people, clear tasks, clear time, clear results, clear responsibilities, clear authority", "look far, look wide, think deeply, do big" to review the tasks assigned by the Prime Minister and Head of the Steering Committee at the first meeting; at the same time, propose tasks and solutions to implement projects to ensure progress and quality.

VNA continues to update information about the meeting.

According to VNA