Regulations on urban railway development investment in the City of Vietnam from January 01, 2025

Regulations on urban railway development investment in the City of Vietnam from January 01, 2025 (Internet image)

1. Regulations on urban railway development investment in the City of Vietnam from January 01, 2025

According to Clause 3, Article 31 of the Capital Law 2024, the investment in urban railway development in the City is prioritized to apply the TOD model, ensuring modern, synchronous, sustainable development and is subject to the following provisions:

- The City People's Council decides on the investment policy for urban railway projects according to the TOD model based on investment stages; decides on separating compensation, support, and resettlement contents into independent projects;

- The City People's Committee decides on investment in urban railway projects according to the TOD model, decides on investment or approves investment policies for component projects, decides on investment in land recovery, compensation, support, and resettlement projects;

- The content, order, procedures, and authority for appraising the projects specified in point a and point b of this clause are carried out similarly to group A projects under the jurisdiction of the provincial People's Council according to the regulations on public investment;

- The City People's Committee is authorized to choose and apply standards and regulations for the city's urban railway lines.

Additionally, the formulation, decision-making, and management of urban railway system planning, planning of traffic routes using mass public passenger transport methods, and TOD areas are subject to the following regulations:

- Based on the Capital Planning and General Planning of the Capital, the City People's Committee is authorized to adjust the functions of land use within the TOD area to exploit land funds and increase land value, develop urban railway lines, other public passenger transport methods, and urban development within the TOD area;

- Within the TOD area, the City People's Committee is authorized to apply planning criteria for architecture, technical infrastructure, social infrastructure, and other space and land use requirements different from the regulations in the national technical standards on construction planning, ensuring compatibility with the General Planning of the Capital;

- For areas that already have approved subdivision planning or equivalent but, when formulating urban railway route plans, traffic routes using mass public passenger transport methods, or when formulating TOD area planning, the agency or organization assigned the task of formulating route plans or planning proposes new or different contents from the approved planning, they must submit it to the City People's Committee for consideration and decision. The decision to approve urban railway route plans or detailed TOD area planning replaces the content of the local adjustment of related subdivision planning or equivalent, and there is no need to go through the procedure of adjusting the previously approved planning scheme. (Clause 2, Article 31 of the Capital Law 2024)

2. What is Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) under the law in Vietnam?

Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) is a solution for planning, renovating, refurbishing, and developing urban areas, focusing on urban railway connection points or public passenger transport connection points using mass transport methods, to concentrate residential areas, commercial services, and office businesses within walking distance to public transport means, enhancing land use efficiency, public works, community health, reducing personal motorized traffic, reducing pollution emissions, combined with preserving and promoting cultural values.

A TOD area includes railway stations, urban railway depots, and pick-up and drop-off points for other mass public passenger transport modes and the surrounding areas identified based on the related subdivision planning or detailed planning to build traffic routes, urban railway lines combined with urban renovation, refurbishment, and urban development investment.

(According to Clause 1, Article 31 of the Capital Law 2024)

More details can be found in in the Capital Law 2024 which comes into force in Vietnam from January 01, 2025.

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