Construction starts on first railway project using RoK’s ODA
A kick-off ceremony for the construction of the Khe Net pass railway rehabilitation project was held on March 22 by the Ministry of Construction, the People’s Committee of central Quang Binh province, and the Republic of Korea (RoK)’s Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF).
This is the first such project in Vietnam to be implemented with official development assistance (ODA) loans from the EDCF and counterpart capital from the Vietnamese Government with a total investment of more than VND2 trillion (US$80.6 million). It is implemented by a consortium of Vietnamese construction giant Deo Ca Group and the RoK’s IlSung Vietnam Co., Ltd.
The project includes two packages, in which the first is to build two railway tunnels whose total length is 935m, and the second is to construct and restore bridges and around 7km of railway.
Ngo Truong Nam, General Director of Deo Ca Group, said that the Khe Net pass project is identified as a "bottleneck" in the North - South railway line. Once completed, it will improve the railway infrastructure, boost the speed, and shorten the travel time on the Hanoi - Ho Chi Minh City railway in the coming years.
Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Danh Huy said that the project will become a symbol of cooperation between Vietnam and the RoK in the field of transportation infrastructure in general and railways in particular, contributing to the development of diplomatic relations in commensuration with the comprehensive strategic partnership of the two countries.