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1. Site clearance and resettlement

What happensThe site is handed over in short disconnected stretches. The contractor receives section A while section B is unfinished, plant and labour stand idle, and a claim for standing time and an extension of time follows.
Why it happensA metro runs through established urban areas with dense population and utilities. The compensation plan is built on cadastral records while the actual situation on the ground has moved on. Costs approved at one date are paid out over several years.
Governing instrumentsLuật Đất đai 31/2024/QH15 · NĐ 88/2024 · NĐ 102/2024 · NĐ 103/2024 · NĐ 226/2025 · Hanoi, in TOD areas: NQ 66/2026/NQ-HĐND Article 11
What to doKeep a site handover register by chainage and by date, signed by three parties — this is the primary evidence that decides whether standing-time cost can be settled at all. Record every extension in a contract addendum, not in correspondence. Reconcile the payment list against actual vouchers quarterly.

2. Total investment adjusted several times

What happensTotal investment is approved at one figure; a few years on, actual cost is far above it. While the adjustment awaits approval, construction and payment continue. At settlement, part of the work turns out to exceed the total investment that was in force when it was done.
Why it happensFour causes usually compound: preliminary total investment built on thin survey data; escalation across an eight to fifteen year life; design changes because underground conditions differ from expectation; and site clearance cost rising with land prices.
Governing instrumentsLuật Đầu tư công 58/2024/QH15 · NĐ 85/2025 (amended by NĐ 275/2025) · NĐ 206/2026 on cost management · NĐ 19/2026 on appraisal and investment supervision
What to doCost proposed for settlement must fall within the approved total investment — the excess, absent an approved adjustment, has no basis for inclusion in the settled value, even where the work is built and accepted. Keep a schedule of total investment by period; obtain the adjustment before carrying out the excess.

3. EPC contracts and foreign contractors

What happensAn EPC package is signed on an international form, lump sum in foreign currency, paid against milestones. At settlement the investor has no detailed bill of quantities to check against; the verifying authority asks for a breakdown and the contractor refuses, the contract being lump sum.
Why it happensInternational contracting and domestic settlement law rest on two different logics. The international form treats lump sum as transferring quantity risk to the contractor; a State capital settlement file demands evidence of quantities executed.
Governing instrumentsNĐ 37/2015 amended by NĐ 50/2021 (consolidated text 07/VBHN-BXD) · Luật Xây dựng 135/2025/QH15 · Luật Đấu thầu 22/2023/QH15 · VBHN 34/VBHN-BXD · NĐ 04/2026 on the railway industry
What to doLock the form of price in the bidding documents; where an EPC package mixes kinds of work, split the price annex by part. Require a price analysis and a base bill of quantities as contract annexes even on a lump sum. State the contract language, who is responsible for translation, and the conversion rate.

4. Trial-running costs before commercial operation

What happensTrial running lasts months, sometimes more than a year. Traction electricity, operating payroll, insurance and foreign specialists all arise. The works are not handed over and earn no revenue. Is this investment cost or operating cost?
Why it happensOn a metro the boundary between the end of investment and the start of operation is not a point but an interval. Trial running is both an acceptance step and an operating activity. Construction law and public asset law do not join up at precisely this place.
Governing instrumentsNĐ 207/2026 and TT 32/2026/TT-BXD · TT 62/2026/TT-BXD metro technical regulation · NĐ 16/2026 · NĐ 15/2025 on infrastructure assets · TT 79/2026/TT-BTC
What to doDecide before trial running, not after: obtain approval of a document fixing the scope, the duration, the list of costs and the funding source. Open a separate tracking code in the accounts. Treat the system safety certification file as a standalone contract item with its own estimate.

5. Applying foreign standards and technical regulations

What happensDesign and equipment follow the standards of the country supplying the technology. At acceptance and settlement the domestic authority asks for a comparison against Vietnamese technical regulations, and many parameters either do not exist or are measured differently.
Why it happensVietnam has had a dedicated technical regulation for metro-type urban railway only since TT 62/2026/TT-BXD of 30 July 2026. Lines started before that date had to borrow foreign standards, and each line uses the technology of a different country.
Governing instrumentsHanoi: NQ 40/2025/NQ-HĐND — note that Article 1.2 states expressly that urban railway follows its own route and does NOT follow the general sequence in that resolution · TT 62/2026/TT-BXD · TT 44/2025/TT-BXD
What to doPrepare a standards comparison table at design stage and have it approved, rather than leaving it as an internal consultant document. For Hanoi projects, do not cite NQ 40/2025 as authority for urban railway — that resolution excludes it; cite Luật Thủ đô 02/2026/QH16 and NQ 188/2025/QH15.

6. Settlement of a project that ran for many years

What happensThe project has passed through several generations of decrees on cost management, project management and settlement, and several rounds of amendment to the norm circulars. The people who prepared the file have left; early vouchers are in storage and some have faded.
Why it happensThis is simply the nature of a project with an eight to fifteen year life. There is no way to avoid it, only ways to manage it.
Governing instrumentsThe chains to know — project management: NĐ 59/2015 → NĐ 15/2021 → NĐ 175/2024 → NĐ 209/2026 and NĐ 210/2026. Cost management: NĐ 32/2015 → NĐ 68/2019 → NĐ 10/2021 → NĐ 206/2026. Settlement: TT 09/2016 → TT 10/2020 → NĐ 99/2021 → NĐ 254/2025
What to doThe first task is to build the project’s own map of which instruments applied when, assigning each milestone to a generation. A conclusion that cannot cite the document number of the right period will not stand. Reconcile capital paid with the paying authority annually rather than waiting for the end.

7. TOD and capturing the increase in land value

What happensPolicy allows the city to capture part of the increase in land value around stations to offset the cost of the line. In practice, the implementing body cannot work out how much is to be collected.
Why it happensThe mechanism is complete at the level of the law and the People’s Council resolution, but the document that quantifies it is missing at the bottom layer. There is a second mismatch: the TOD plan must be approved first, yet the TOD plan depends on a fixed alignment and station locations — while the line is still being redesigned.
Governing instrumentsLuật Thủ đô 02/2026/QH16 Article 12 · NQ 188/2025/QH15 · Hanoi: NQ 71/2025, NQ 66/2026, NQ 67/2026 · HCMC: NQ 21/2026 (replacing NQ 38/2025 from 19 June 2026), NQ 90/2025
What to doDraw the accounting boundary between the line project and the TOD project from the outset. For Hanoi, watch the Official Gazette for the resolution on the TOD advantage coefficient the moment it is issued — until it exists, every TOD revenue figure is an internal estimate and does not belong in a formal financial plan.

8. Underground space

What happensUnderground stations and tunnel sections sit beneath land held by many different users. To what depth is land recovered, how is the subsurface compensated, what is the land rent for an underground structure, and how far may the commercial area within an underground station be exploited?
Why it happensTraditional land law manages by surface parcel. Underground space is a new layer of administration, only just laid down in Luật Thủ đô and the 2026 resolutions of the Hanoi People’s Council.
Governing instrumentsLuật Thủ đô 02/2026/QH16 Article 11 · Hanoi: NQ 64/2026 (underground space planning), NQ 65/2026 (charges), NQ 62/2026 (investment incentives)
What to doEstablish and record the underside level of each station and each tunnel section in the design and as-built files — the fifteen-metre threshold decides the financial obligation directly. Separate the underground floor area used for operations from the area exploited commercially, because the two carry different financial regimes.

9. Training the operating workforce

What happensThe cost of training drivers, controllers and maintenance staff is included in total investment. At settlement the question arises: does this create an asset? If not, how is it treated?
Why it happensTraining is investment cost in economic terms but forms no fixed asset in accounting terms. Those trained may leave before the line opens, which raises a question about the effectiveness of the capital.
Governing instrumentsNQ 188/2025/QH15, the group of mechanisms on technology transfer and workforce training · QĐ 2230/QĐ-TTg, the railway workforce plan to 2035 · NĐ 254/2025
What to doSettle it at project preparation stage: which cost heading training belongs to, and whether it is chargeable to asset value. If it is not, permission from the competent authority is required — that is a separate procedure, not something the investor can decide alone. Keep full evidence, because this is a cost with no physical product.

10. Technology transfer and localisation

What happensThe contract contains a technology transfer clause but describes it in general terms, with no specific schedule, no acceptance criteria and no separate payment milestone. At settlement nobody can establish whether the obligation was performed, or what share of the contract price it represents.
Why it happensTechnology transfer is an obligation that is hard to quantify. The seller has an incentive to retain the core. The buyer often lacks the technical capacity to define precisely what it needs to receive at the moment of signing.
Governing instrumentsNQ 188/2025/QH15 · NĐ 04/2026 on assigning and ordering railway industry work · QĐ 498/QĐ-TTg on restructuring Vietnam Railways · Luật Chuyển giao công nghệ 07/2017/QH14
What to doSet out the transfer schedule as a table in the bidding documents: content — form — acceptance criteria — date — corresponding value. Without a value column it cannot be settled. Make it a separate payment item and retain the final percentage until the whole schedule is accepted.

If your project is stuck on one of these

Describe the situation on the advice page. Say where the project is, what the funding source is, and the date of the matter — instruments apply according to when the event arose.