Seizing Opportunities: Transforming Lives with the 1,500 km Mega Project Connecting Vietnam’s Three Regions.

Over 120,800 Households Affected by Resettlement

The high-speed rail project between North and South Vietnam, with a length of 1,541 km, will start at Ngoc Hoi Station in Hanoi and end at Thu Thiem Station in Ho Chi Minh City.

The project passes through 20 provinces and cities (after the rearrangement of administrative units, the remaining number of localities is 15). The scale of the railway line includes 23 stations (including 5 cargo stations).

The project’s preliminary land requirement is over 10,800 hectares, and it is expected that over 120,800 households will need to be resettled.

Establish a Land Clearance Steering Committee before July 1st

On June 16, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha chaired a hybrid meeting with ministries, sectors, and localities on land clearance work for the North-South high-speed rail project.

The Deputy Prime Minister emphasized that the National Assembly has agreed to separate the land clearance for the North-South high-speed rail project into an independent project for proactive implementation. The Ministry of Construction is in charge of this task, coordinating with the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment and local authorities. Land clearance work needs to be carried out urgently and systematically, ensuring compliance with regulations.

According to the directions of the Politburo, the Government Party Committee, and the Government’s Standing Committee, land clearance work must commence by August 2025.

To ensure progress, it is necessary to have sufficient legal and technical conditions, especially regarding central-level competencies such as converting forest land and rice land and infrastructure planning.

The Ministry of Construction, the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment, and related ministries and sectors need to provide guidance and clarify procedures related to compensation, resettlement, and new residential area arrangement to ensure a smooth and consensual process of mobilizing and relocating residents.

Localities along the project route must urgently establish detailed plans and proactively allocate local budget funds to implement land clearance and establish a Land Clearance Steering Committee before July 1st.

As of June 12, the People’s Committees of the provinces and cities have assigned specific tasks to units in charge of land clearance. However, only 1/20 localities have established a Land Clearance Steering Committee; 5/20 localities have completed the preliminary review of resettlement needs, and 1/20 localities have developed an implementation plan.

Therefore, the Ministry of Construction requests that localities focus on reviewing and adjusting urban-rural planning, land use planning, identifying locations, and developing projects for resettlement areas…

According to the plan, the localities are required to complete the basic compensation and resettlement support before December 2026 to hand over the cleared land to the construction contractors.

Discussing the issues in land clearance work in their localities, the leaders of the ministries and sectors agreed that resettlement must take precedence to ensure the well-being of the people and the project’s progress.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha instructed the Ministry of Construction to work directly with each locality to review the actual situation, especially routes passing through natural forest cores, cultural heritage sites, national defense and security areas, or densely populated areas. Even at the stage of determining the route on the map, localities must proactively grasp the needs, accurately determine the land area, and develop specific resettlement plans.