HCMC – Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has called on HCMC authorities to speed up work on Metro Line No. 1 so that it can commence commercial service in early 2024.
During the sixth meeting of the steering committee for State management of key national projects, Chinh said relevant agencies must work harder to remove all hindrances to the progress of urban railway projects across the country.
The Nhon-Hanoi Station metro line was originally scheduled for completion by the end of this year, while Metro Line No. 1 in HCMC, also known as the Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien urban rail line, is planned to be up and running early next year.
Chinh urged local authorities to pool all available resources and streamline investment procedures for the construction of more urban railways in both HCMC and Hanoi, the country’s two biggest cities.
With a total length of 19.7 kilometers, Metro Line No. 1 connects the landmark Ben Thanh Market in District 1 and Suoi Tien Theme Park in Thu Duc City, and has three underground stations and 11 elevated stations.
The project, which started construction in 2007, requires a total of VND43.7 trillion, of which VND38.3 trillion lent by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the remainder coming from the Vietnamese side.
Currently, the rail line is 95.75% complete.
The Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR) of HCMC plans to test-operate the entire line in the fourth quarter of this year. But a news report posted on Lao Dong newspaper early this month said Japanese contractor Hitachi had yet to provide personnel training, do maintenance work and coordinate with the local side to do railway safety review and certification.
