$1.2b estimated for metro route no 2 in HCM City

HCM City Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR) said that on August 24 the city would start construction of metro route no 2 with Ben Thanh-Tham Luong Depot in District 12.

The construction will be divided into two phases.

The first stage with about 12 kilometres started from Ben Thanh crossing Pham Hong Thai-Cach Mang Thang Tam-Truong Chinh streets and to Tham Luong (district 12).

In the second phase, the route will extend to the northwest area of the city (An Suong crossroads, district 12) and in the southeast, the route will go through Saigon River to Thu Thiem new urban zone (district 2) with a total length of about 19 kilometres.

Some initial works of levelling the ground surface of 25 hectares, building interior roads and other basic infrastructure articles of the depot will also take place with total costs of some 27 billion dong from the city’s budget.

At present, HCM City Department of Planning and Investment is making final assessments for the first phase with a total investment of some $1.2 billion.

As planned, the city will put into operation the first phase of metro 2 with total length of 11 kilometres by 2016 linking from Ben Thanh railway station (district 1) to Tham Luong depot (district 12).

The project is financed by Germany’s largest bank-Kreditanstalt Fuer Wiederaufbau (KFW, with nearly 241 million euro), loans from European Investment Bank (EIB, with some 150 million euro) and Asian Development Bank (ADB with about $540 million).

Reportedly, HCM City plans to build six metro routes with a combined length of about 109 kilometres. CafeF

Tags: HCM City, Vietnam Infrastructure