HANOI (Reuters): The Vietnamese government will consider a proposal from Vinspeed, a company established by billionaire Vingroup Chairman Pham Nhat Vuong, to develop a high-speed railway running the length of the country, a government document showed.
Lawmakers in the South-East Asian industrial hub in November approved a $67 billion plan to build the 1,541-km (958-mile) railway line linking the capital Hanoi with business hub Ho Chi Minh City.
The authorities "basically support and welcome the proposal from Vinspeed", said the document dated Thursday and reviewed by Reuters.
Vinspeed, formally known as Vinspeed High-Speed Railway Investment and Development JSC, submitted the proposal this week, saying it would complete the construction of the railway by 2030, five years earlier than previously targeted by the government, state media reported.
Vinspeed said the cost of the railway would be 1,562 trillion dong ($60.26 billion), excluding costs for site clearance, the Ministry of Industry and Trade's Cong Thuong newspaper reported.
The company, founded this month by Vuong, said it would arrange 20% of the investment and borrow the remaining 80% from the state at a 0% interest rate for 35 years, according to the report.
Vinspeed's parent company Vingroup confirmed the plan in a statement to Reuters.
"Vinspeed is currently negotiating with partners from countries with expertise in railway industries such as China, Germany, and Japan to receive technology transfers and manufacture locomotives, carriages and signal and control systems in Vietnam," Vingroup said in a statement.
"The company will also quickly organise personnel training and master technology to take the initiative in developing the country's railway industry," it added.
The government has assigned the construction ministry 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 transport ministry said Vietnam would fund the railway entirely on its own, in a demonstration of the Communist-run country's reluctance to accept foreign loans.
Vingroup, once a real estate and retail conglomerate that has grown to become one of Vietnam's biggest firms, is also the parent of Nasdaq-listed electric vehicle maker VinFast with a market capitalisation of $11.7 billion. ($1 = 25,920 dong)
(Reporting by Khanh Vu and Francesco Guarascio; Additional reporting by Phuong Nguyen; Editing by Ed Osmond) - Reuters
