ADB grants loans to finance City urban rail project

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung on Tuesday issued an official document which recommends that the State President approve the ADB loan agreement for the construction of Metro Line 2 in HCM City.

Earlier, the prime minister had authorised the Governor of the State Bank of Viet Nam to sign the loan agreement with a representative of ADB in Viet Nam.

In the agreement, ADB pledged to fund US$40 million in the first phase of the project and the other US$500 million during the 2011-2012 period.

The route broke ground in August last year at Tham Luong Depot. The US$1.3 billion project, which connects Ben Thanh Market and Tham Luong Depot, is also financed by Germany’s largest bank-Kreditanstalt Fuer Wiederaufbau and the European Investment Bank.

As planned, the city will put the 19-km route of the first phase of metro 2 into operation by 2016.

The HCM City People’s Committee is responsible for implementing the project between 2011 and 2016.

The city government plans to build a $7.5 billion metropolitan rail system with a combined length of 109 kilometres. It will have six lines by 2020, with 84 per cent of the funds expected to be from overseas lenders. — VNS

Tags: City urban rail project