The chief executive of China Communications has met with Vietnam’s deputy prime minister in Hanoi to offer his company’s services in a range of major infrastructure projects, VN Express reports.
Wang Hai Huai told Tran Hong Ha on Wednesday that China Communications had been tracking Vietnam road and rail plans, and it wanted to become involved in a number of them. The examples he gave included planned rail links between the two countries, the North–south high-speed rail project, as well as metro lines in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
He also expressed a willingness to invest in cutting-edge nearshore and offshore wind farms.
China Communications is hoping to build on a history of carrying out infrastructure work in Vietnam. This began in 1996 and now includes more than 30 projects worth over $3bn, including ports, wind farms and industrial zones.
For his part, Vice Premier Ha welcomed China Communications’ interest in the 1,500km North–south high-speed rail line and three rail links to the Chinese border. He said: “These are priority projects that must be implemented as soon as possible.”
He also urged the company to collaborate with Vietnamese partners and study the legal provisions in both countries, with the aim of ushering in “a new phase of infrastructure development in Vietnam”.
This North–south line, which is expected to cost in the region $60bn, is due to break ground by the end of 2028. Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said at a conference in July that it should allow trains to travel at 350 km/h and be completed by 2035.
China Communications’ pitch for this scheme, the largest in Vietnam’s history, is not the first it has made.
In October last year, Bai Yinzhan, director of China Communications’ subsidiary China Harbour Engineering, made a similar offer to Nguyen Chi Dung, Vietnam’s planning minister, at a Belt and Road Forum in Beijing.
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