City starts work on second metro line
By Anh Quan and Phuong Thao - The Saigon Times Daily
HCMC – The HCMC Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR) on Tuesday kicked off construction of the city’s second metro line running from the downtown area to outlying District 12, marking an urgent need for mass rapid transit in a city where road traffic has become nightmarish.
The southeast-northwest line starting from the planned Ben Thanh Terminal in District 1 and ending in Tham Luong Depot in District 12 will cost a total of VND23.6 trillion, or around US$1.2 billion.
The project began with packages for leveling the ground on 26 hectares, building barriers and a security control station for the depot in District 12 at a total cost of VND19 billion. The project will be funded by official development assistance (ODA) loans of the Asian Development Bank, the European Investment Bank, and German development bank KfW, as well as Vietnam’s capital.
Speaking at the groundbreaking ceremony, MAUR director Nguyen Do Luong said the project would be of great social and economic significance as it would help to reduce traffic density in districts 3 and 10 and some parts of the city center.
Construction of the line is scheduled for completion by 2016, allowing commuters to travel 11.3 kilometers through the city within 18 to 20 minutes with a ticket price estimated at VND3,000 per person between 2017 and 2019. The line will be able to accommodate around 40,000 passengers an hour after phase 2.
The second metro line covers a planned stretch of 20 kilometers starting from the Thu Thiem New Urban Area underway in District 2 and ending at Tay Ninh bus station. For the first phase, the Ben Thanh-Tham Luong section will be built along the main streets of Pham Hong Thai, Cach Mang Thang Tam and Truong Chinh with 10 underground stations and an elevated station. There will be a one-kilometer feeder line leading to the Tham Luong Depot, 9.3 kilometers of underground track and almost one kilometer of elevated track.
MAUR plans to select consultants for the project within this year to begin survey and technical design in 2011. The project will be implemented from 2011 to 2015 and start operating in 2016.
In the second stage, the length of the second metro line will be expanded to 19 kilometers by extending it to both Thu Thiem New Urban Area in the south and An Suong Intersection in the north of the city.
Concerning the first line that kicked off in 2008, Luong said this line running from Ben Thanh to Suoi Tien Park in District was under construction and expected to begin service in 2015. Basic infrastructure for the Long Binh Depot in District 9 is near completion and we will start site clearance and compensation to serve track installation, Luong said.
Local government earlier ordered relevant agencies to complete land handovers for the first metro line construction by December 15.
The city’s master plan is envisaged building six metro lines with a combined length of about 109 kilometers.