HANOI, May 15 — The Vietnamese government will consider a proposal from Vinspeed, a company established by billionaire Phạm Nhật Vượng, to develop a high-speed railway running the length of the country, according to a government document.
Lawmakers in the Southeast Asian industrial hub in November approved a US$67 billion (RM286.9 billion) plan to build the 1,541km railway line linking the capital Hanoi with business hub Ho Chi Minh City.
The document, dated to today and reviewed by Reuters, said the authorities "basically support and welcome the proposal from Vinspeed."
Vinspeed, formally known as Vinspeed High-speed Railway Investment and Development JSC, submitted the proposal this week, saying it would complete the railway construction by 2030, five years earlier than previously targeted by the government, state media reported.
Vinspeed said the cost of the railway would be 1.56 trillion dong (RM258 billion), excluding costs for site clearance, the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Báo Công Thương newspaper reported.
The company, founded this month by Vuong, said it would arrange 20 per cent of the investment and borrow the remaining 80 per cent from the state at a zero per cent interest rate for 35 years, according to the report.
Vingroup did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The government has assigned the Ministry of Construction to seek opinions from related ministries and agencies to draft a resolution by May 20 to submit to the National Assembly, the country's lawmaking body.
In October, the Ministry of Transport said Vietnam would fund the railway entirely on its own, demonstrating the Communist-run country's reluctance to accept foreign loans.
Vuong is the chairman of Vingroup, once a real estate and retail conglomerate that has grown to become one of Vietnam's biggest firms and is the parent of Nasdaq-listed electric vehicle maker VinFast with a market capitalisation of US$11.7 billion (RM50.11 billion).
— Reuters
