City to start work on new metro route

HCM City will start construction of Tham Luong Depot in District 12 later this month as the first component for the second metro line of the city.

Hoang Ngoc Tuan, vice director of the HCM City Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR), told the Saigon Times that a ceremony to kick off the construction of the depot was slated for August 24. Tuan said the Department of Planning and Investment was appraising capital for the first stage of the second metro line linking Ben Thanh Terminal in the city centre and Tham Luong Depot in District 12. “The city is prudently calculating the budget for the second metro line, having gained experience relating to the swelling investment of the first metro line,” he said.

The first stage of Ben Thanh – Tham Luong metro route is expected to cost a total $l.2 billion, mostly loaned by the Asian Development Bank, European Investment Bank and the German development bank KfW. Construction of the subway would likely be completed in 2016.

In the second stage, the metro line will be expanded up to 19 kilometres by extending the route either way to Thu Thiem New Urban Town in the south and An Suong Intersection in the north. The route after phase 2 will have a designed transport capacity of some 40,000 passengers per hour.

HCM City plans to build six metro routes with a combined length of some 109 kilometres.

Construction on the Long Binh Depot in District 9 of the first metro line linking Ben Thanh and Suoi Tien is now under progress. The’ city government has petitioned the government to increase the investment capital of the line up to nearly $2.5 billion from the previously-approved budget of some $l billion, due to increasing prices of construction materials, higher wages and changes in design.

Tags: Tham Luong Depot