railway to include land development projects along the route. A study in 2020 estimated that a significant portion (32 to 54 per cent) of the project’s profits would need to come from non-transportation sectors,[34] which would likely involve foreign builders due to the lack of technological capacity and management expertise among local partners.

Another concern is the dependency on foreign expertise for the project. Although Vietnam aims to localise the project, it currently lacks enterprises capable of absorbing the necessary technological transfer from international partners. This could lead to a prolonged period of reliance on foreign expertise for operation and maintenance, contradicti

controversial decision for any leader. This is evident in the comparison of existing urban rail projects in Hanoi and HCMC. Despite the Cat Linh–Ha Dong line in Hanoi being the first operational metro project in Vietnam with fewer cost overruns than others, it has attracted the most public criticism.[31] Given the vast scale and decade-long const