The Japanese government has agreed to finance Vietnam to work out a feasible study for its key railway project, the Giao Thong Van Tai newspaper reported Jan. 21, citing Japanese official. Japan will give the funding to two sections of the Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City high-speed railway route, Hanoi-Vinh and Nha Trang-Saigon, Japanese Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada said at meeting of the 3rd meeting of Vietnam-Japan Cooperation Committee held in Tokyo on Jan 15-19. The Vietnam Railway Corporation (VRC) will start building the study for the railway project from this June; the newspaper quoted VRC Director Nguyen Huu Bang as saying. Bang added that the Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City railway route is among the three Vietnamese strategic projects that the Vietnamese and Japanese prime ministers agreed to develop, besides the North-South Expressway and Hoa Lac Hi-tech Park. Under a plan approved by the Vietnamese prime minister, construction of the Hanoi-Ho Chi Minh City railway will be kicked off in 2011 and finish in 2036. The VRC director forecast that investment of the route can reach tens of billion of U.S dollar and up to 82% of it is expected from the state budget.
