Contract award for the renovation of four railway tunnels through the famous Hai Van Pass in Vietnam is scheduled to be announced this month.
The contract was thrown open to tender by the Railway Project Management Unit (RPMU) on 26 February with winners to be notified within 60 days as work is slated to begin in June this year.
The project, with US$8M in finance from the French Government’s Overseas Development Assistance(ODA) programme, will upgrade four out of six ageing and dilapidated railway tunnels to ensure the safety of railway transport across the pass.
The tunnels, built about a century ago, have limited the average speed of passing-by trains to between 15km and 30km per hour.
The renovation will include the upgrade and construction of 670m in tunnels 9, 10, 13 and a part of tunnel 7.
Around 60% of the capital will be spent on construction, while the remainder will be used for equipment, technology and training.
The RPMU, which owns the project, said the contractors will have to ensure the normal operation of the railway industry during the renovations, and stressed that they will have only 22 months to complete the works.
RPMU’s general director, Tran Van Luc, said the renovation project was not large, but was very complex and required the application of new technology to streamline services on the vital trans-Viet railway system.
Luc said the winning bidder would train a group of engineers and workers so that they can use the shotcreting technology mixed with metal fibres, which will guarantee the upgrade of the last two tunnels.
The renovation of the Hai Van Pass railway tunnels is the first such project to get ODA funding.
