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| The outline of the Metro Line 2 Bến Thành – Tham Lương. Photo from tuoitre.vn |
Viet Nam News
HCM CITY – HCM City is planning to extend Metro Line No 2 Bến Thành – Tham Lương by 9.3 km.
An additional 5.9 km will link Bến Thành in District 1 and Thủ Thiêm Urban Area in District 2, while a 3.4 km section will run from Tham Lương to An Sương Coach Station in District 12.
According to the HCM City Management Authority for Urban Railways, the European Commission intended to offer non-refundable aid of EUR6 million (US$7.17 million) for the project through KfW, the German Development Bank.
The Bến Thành – Tham Lương Line 2 is 11.33 km long, including a 9.5-km underground section, running through Districts 1, 3, 10, 12, Tân Bình and Tân Phú.
Construction originally began in 2013 with a total cost of VNĐ26.1 trillion ($1.3 billion).
This amount included $540 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB), $313 million from the KfW, $195 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and over $326 million of Việt Nam’s reciprocal capital.
In 2015, the city decided to adjust the project, which made the cost rise to $2.19 billion.
Last week, the city People’s Committee recommended that the project be postponed to 2020.
The districts’ authorities said it would begin to reclaim land for the Line 2 project, a process that is expected to finish in June 2018.
The city People’s Committee also recommended the Ministries of Planning and Investment and Finance use Official Development Assistance (ODA) from the state budget in 2017 for the city’s urgent projects.
The Metro Line 1 Bến Thành – Suối Tiên needs additional capital of VNĐ3.3 trillion ($146 million), while capital of VNĐ300 ($13 million) will be used for the second stage of the city’s environmental project. VNS
