HCMC – HCMC has informed the Ministry of Planning and Investment that work on its second metro line, which links Ben Thanh Market in District 1 and Tham Luong Depot in District 12, might be delayed until the end of 2025 due to problems with a consulting contract.
The consulting contract for the second metro line project was signed in 2012 by the Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR) of HCMC and Implementation Consultant (IC), comprising two phases. The first phase involves design, bidding, documentation and evaluation, while supervision operations are in the second phase.
Due to prolonged project adjustment, the contract expired in 2018. As such, the consulting firm stopped supplying services for the first phase of the project, the local media reported.
In 2018, MAUR decided to end the second phase of the consulting contract because of changes in the scale of the project and the groundbreaking date.
In 2019, the authority and IC held negotiations on Appendix 13 of the consulting contract to complete the rest of the first phase. The negotiation lasted for two years, but no consensus was reached.
In May 2021, the city decided to end negotiations on Appendix No. 13 and the contract with IC. However, IC later proposed resuming negotiations to complete some main bidding packages.
The municipal government assigned MAUR to get back to the negotiation table with IC. However, in March, IC announced ending the consulting contract.
The termination of the contract has lengthened the process of completing the remaining components and delayed work on the metro line project. In addition, the progress of the project will depend on the success of selecting a consulting firm for supervision packages. The selection might last 12 to 18 months.
As for construction and equipment packages, MAUR worked with funders and reached a consensus to complete the project and put it into service in 2030.
Accordingly, a consulting contract for supervision will be signed in September 2023, while construction and equipment packages are set to start in late 2024.
The city’s 11-kilometer second metro line would cost a total of VND47.89 trillion and have 10 stations. The project was set to be completed in 2026.
