Investment alliance eyes $100bn north-south high-speed rail project in Vietnam

A Vietnamese-American investment alliance has made an ambitious proposal to develop Vietnam's North-South high-speed railway, pledging to finance the entire US$100 billion project independently.

The alliance between Vietnam's Mekolor and the United States' Great USA Inc. submitted the proposal on June 3 to Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh and Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha, said Vo Xuan Truong, chairman of Mekolor.

"We have strong financial backing and international partners ready to support the project, including those with expertise in advanced technologies and green energy," Truong told Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper.

   Fully private financing, 5-year timeline

The proposal outlined a 12-point plan, emphasizing that the alliance will fund the entire project with private capital sourced from Great Core Fund and Mekolor Capital--two entities within the alliance's ecosystem.

It did not ask the Vietnamese government for reciprocal capital and financial guarantees to ease the national public debt burden.

The alliance pledged to complete the construction and put the project into operation within five years from the handover of cleared land.

The project would be operated for 49 years, while some 95 percent of its workforce would be Vietnamese.

Mekolor JSC, headquartered in Can Tho and founded in 2016, is primarily involved in trade promotion.

The alliance introduced Mekolor as a private Vietnamese firm that integrates blockchain technology with labor value to redefine concepts of credit and assets.

Its initiatives include the Great Network, a global decentralized financial ecosystem, the global citizen identification card, which is a blockchain-based digital ID tied to credit scoring, and the 'One Mekong One Meal' initiative.

Meanwhile, Great USA Inc. was introduced as a firm established in Florida.

   Legal controversies

In 2021, Mekolor filed a lawsuit at the International Court of Arbitration under the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) against Barclays Long Island Limited for allegedly breaching a 20-billion-euro ($22 billion) loan agreement related to a tourism project in An Giang Province, southern Vietnam.

Although Barclays claimed to have transferred one billion euros ($1.14 billion) via the SWIFT system, Mekolor confirmed its bank account did not receive the money.

Also, Vietnams central bank found no trace of the transaction.

In 2024, Truong was fined VND20 million ($768) by the Can Tho Department of Information and Communications for defamation, insulting individuals and organizations, and unlawfully collecting and using personal data.

He was required to remove all offending content posted online.

   Competing proposals

In mid-May 2025, VinSpeed High-Speed Rail Investment and Development JSC, a newly established company under Vietnams richest billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong, submitted a proposal to invest in the North-South high speed railway project.

The firm said it would cover 20 percent of the total with its own capital, equivalent to $12.27 billion, excluding land clearance costs.

The project would be put into operation after five years of construction, with a 99-year investment term.

In addition, Vietnamese conglomerate Truong Hai Group (THACO) proposed taking part in the project.

Under its proposal, 20 percent, or about $12.27 billion, of the total cost will come from the company's own capital and legally mobilized domestic sources.

The remaining 80 percent, or around $49 billion, will be borrowed from domestic and international credit institutions.

The estimated completion time is seven years, with a 70-year investment term.

Tieu Bac - Hong Phuc / Tuoi Tre News

(2025/06/10-18:14)