A lack of legal provisions governing the upward revised investment cost and the Covid-19 pandemic are the main reasons for the delayed disbursement of of investment capital for Hanoi’s two railway projects, a Hanoi official has said.

At the meeting. Photo: Thanh Hai

Director of the Hanoi Metropolitan Railway Management Board (MBR) Nguyen Cao Minh was quoted by Kinh Te & Do Thi as saying at a meeting on August 31 that his board has been assigned to manage and implement urban rail works which are key national projects with a total investment of more than US$1 billion. However, the implementation time has dragged on as many mechanisms and policies have been changed. Therefore, the execution of these projects has to go through many adjustments to comply with the overlapping regulations.

Some VND1,200 billion (US$51.8 million) has been earmarked for the Nam Thang Long – Tran Hung Dao section of the railway line No.2 project, but this amount is being upward revised and such an adjustment was not regulated by the old Law on Public Investment. The MBR is waiting for instructions from the Ministry of Planning and Investment on this issue.

Work on Hanoi's third urban railway project, the Nhon - Hanoi station, under construction with total capital of VND4,030 billion (US$172.8 million), has been delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. So far, 43% of the total amount has been disbursed.

In four months ahead, the MBR will continue to drastically urge the contractors to strengthen measures to prevent Covid-19 contagion in implementing the projects, especially for foreigners, so that the projects would be carried out as planned.

“We will make the best efforts to disburse public investment capital allocated to the Nhon - Hanoi station metro line project and the Nam Thang Long-Tran Hung Dao project as soon as possible,” Mr. Minh said.