The 19.7km metro line No 1 between Bến Thành Market and Suối Tiên Tourist Park being built in HCM City. |
HCM CITY — The first set of tracks and sleepers will be installed on HCM City’s 19.7km metro line No 1 from Bến Thành Market to Suối Tiên Tourist Park on October 23, the director of the project has said.
Dương Hữu Hoà said the tracks would be installed at the section between Bình Thái Crossroads and Hà Nội Highway by Japanese contractor Hitachi.
According to City Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR), work on the first metro line is on track, including a package for construction of the 17.1km section above ground and the maintenance depot, with 70 per cent of the works completed.
Japanese contractor Shimiwu-Maeda has completed 51 per cent of the work under another package, this one to build the 2.6km underground section between Ba Son Shipyard (on Tôn Đức Thắng Street) and the Municipal Theatre on Đồng Khởi Street in District 1.
The route runs through districts 1, 2, 9, Bình Thạnh and Thủ Đức in HCM City and part of Dĩ An District in Bình Dương Province, including 17.1 km along the Hà Nội Highway.
After years of delay due to numerous adjustments, the cost of the project has risen to over VNĐ47 trillion (US$2.49 billion). The work started in August 2012 and the metro line is expected to start operating in 2020.
Tracks would be laid in the elevated section between Ba Son terminal and Long Bình maintenance depot next month, Lê Nguyễn Minh Quang, director of MAUR, said
Speaking to the media last September he had said that nearly 70 per cent of the elevated section was complete.
As much as VNĐ5.2 trillion ($228.9 million) would be needed this year to finance construction but the Ministry of Planning and Investment has allocated only VNĐ2.9 trillion, he said. — VNS