Once the high-speed railway is finished, it will only take 45 minutes to travel from Saigon to Can Tho.
A public-private partnership was recently formalized between Canadian brokerage firm MorFund Financial Inc. and Phuong Nam Science and Technology Institute (PNSTI) to invest CA$6.3 billion (US$5 billion) in the Saigon-Can Tho highspeed railway project, VnExpress reports.
The partnership was signed in the form of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) and will be the legal groundwork for the next investment phase of the project. The institute will submit a report to the Ministry of Transport, the Prime Minister, and the National Assembly within this year and hopefully the project can be started at the end of 2018.
According to the proposal compiled by the research team from PNSTI and Southern Transport Engineering Design Inc. (TEDI South), the railway will be 139 kilometers long and travel through five cities and provinces including Ho Chi Minh City, Long An, Tien Giang, Vinh Long, and Can Tho.
The high-speed railway project was established in 2013 and approved by the Ministry of Transport as one objective in the country's general railway development scheme for 2020 to 2050. PNSTI has been responsible for researching the feasibility of the project over the past five years. The institution has been receiving investment proposals from 15 entities and eventually settled on MorFund.
According to Dr. Tran Cong Hoang Quoc Trang, on 17 January, the Canadian Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City sent a letter praising the project while promising that Canada will provide further technical and engineering support, as well as project management and railway technology.
[Photo by Encino via Wikipedia]
