HCMC – The Ministry of Transport has proposed issuing government bonds and utilizing additional revenue and savings from both the central and local governments to finance urban railway projects in Hanoi and HCMC, according to local media reports.
The ministry has recently presented a draft resolution to the National Assembly on piloting special mechanisms and policies, with a focus on developing the urban railway network in Hanoi and HCMC through 2035.
The draft resolution specifies five special policies to attract investment in urban railways.
The prime minister would be granted the authority to mobilize funds for urban railway projects in specific cases.
This includes issuing Government bonds to supplement the investment plan if the state budget is insufficient, using additional revenue and savings from the central budget, and mobilizing official development assistance (ODA) and concessional loans without needing a formal project proposal.
Additionally, the Government may apply the regulations of foreign donors in cases where Vietnamese laws do not have provisions, or when the existing provisions differ from those of the foreign donors.
The second policy is to allocate supplementary funds from the central budget to local budgets in the 2026-2030 and 2031-2035 medium-term public investment plans, which will serve as the basis for decisions on investments in urban railway projects.
Third, the city’s People’s Council would be tasked with balancing and allocating local budget funds both in the medium term and annually, allowing for the use of additional revenue and savings without adhering to the priority order set by State budget laws, as well as other legal funding sources for the urban railway project.
Fourth, urban railway projects would be allocated funds through each medium-term public investment plan, with the funding amount for each period aligned with the progress of each project, and there would be no limit on the carryover funds for projects into the next medium-term public investment plan.
Fifth, the city’s People’s Committee would prepare investments and allocate funds from the city’s budget in both the medium-term and annual public investment plans to kickstart activities for the urban railway project.
This includes responsibilities for the project owner, project management board, training human resources for government agencies, project management units, operating units, training institutions, and research centers; consultancy services; compensation, support, and resettlement tasks; communication activities; and other related tasks.
