A huge new £53billion high-speed train network has been approved, connecting 20 provinces and cities in east Asia.
The North-South high-speed railway project in Vietnam would be huge – 1,541 kilometres (957.5 miles) long.
It would pass through famous settlements in the country, including places visited by Britons, such as Hanoi, Ha Nam, Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh, Thanh Hoa and Nghe An.
The country’s National Assembly has approved the work, which its proponents suggest would be crucial for Vietnam’s economic development.
The railway is extremely expensive, estimated to cost 1,700 trillion Vietnamese Dong (£52.72billion).
Construction is scheduled for between 2027 and 2035, VN Express reports.
The publication adds that the construction is forecast for three medium-term budget cycles.
These require around 538 billion Dong (£16.68 billion) for preparatory work between 2021–2025, 841.7trillion Dong (£26.1 billion) for 2026–2030, and 871.3 trillion Dong (£27billion) for 2031–2035.
The Chairman of the National Assembly’s Economic Committee, Le Hong Thanh, emphasised that the project would ‘modernise transport infrastructure and drive socio-economic development’.
According to the NA Standing Committee, revenues in the first four years of the railway’s operation would only cover operational and maintenance costs. This means it needs state support for infrastructure maintenance, officials suggested.
However, VN Express readers have said that they expect the project to take a long time to complete.
One said: “I hope it finishes before my kids are too old to ride it.”
Another commented: “Would be a miracle if they can finish this by 2100! Even simple HCMC metro train still not yet finished after so many years….”
A third commenter said: “Let’s see if the time table will be respected. Past history in projects like that does not look good.”
