The National Assembly is sharply divided over government plans for a 56-billion-dollar high-speed railway between Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, as well as a proposed master plan for the city of Hanoi.

"The survey is a sign of the assembly's caution in the face of difficult decisions," said Le Dang Doanh, former director of the Central Institute for Economic Management. "It shows the assembly is becoming more and more independent of the government."

The poll asked deputies whether they agreed with the government's plan for a national high-speed railway, disagreed on some points, or thought it should be limited to several short routes as an experiment.

The results are due to be made public within the next two days, said Nguyen Si Dung, deputy chairman of the Office of the National Assembly.

The assembly has polled its members in the past before votes on "major decisions," Dung said. But Doanh called such surveys "rare."

The assembly, once a rubber-stamp body, has become increasingly independent and critical of the government in recent years. The body must approve all government projects with budgets over 1.9 billion dollars, and could vote to delay or even block the high-speed railway plan.

Doanh said several assembly deputies he had talked to disapproved of the high-speed railway, but had indicated support for some parts of the plan as a token concession.

"If they completely rejected the plan, they would make the government lose face," Doanh said.

Deutsche Presse Agentur - June 16, 2010