12:14:59 PM | 2/26/2009
Total investment for the Metro Route No.1 in Ho Chi Minh City will be raised to US$2.2 billion from the initial estimate of US$1.1 billion due to inflation.
The local People’s Committee has instructed the Urban Railway Management Board to discuss with Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) for the capital increase.
It has also urged the board to submit the documentation to the ministries of Transport and Construction for a review of the project’s design and the funding adjustment.
Work on the Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro route is scheduled to begin this year and to finish in 2013 with operations starting in 2014.
The 19.7-kilometer road, 2.6 kilometers underground and 17.1 kilometer above ground, will run through districts 1, 2, 9 and Thu Duc of the southern hub, and part of the neighboring province of Binh Duong’s Di An district.
Under the city’s development master plan to 2020, there will be seven subway lines – 1, 2, 3a, 3b, 4, 5 and 6, with a combined length of 107 km. between US$5 billion and US$6 billion will be needed for them.
The city’s fast population growth requires the city to develop mass rapid transport. A survey shows the population of Ho Chi Minh City would reach 20 to 22 million by 2020, compared to about seven million by the end of 2008.
The Vietnamese Prime Minister has approved a plan to mobilize a total investment of US$15 billion for metro projects in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City by 2020. (Vietnam Economic Times)
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