Metro project full steam ahead

The rail networks will address the economic hub’s chronic traffic woes

According to Ho Chi Minh City Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR), the second metro line will be developed in two phases following the completion of the depot in 2012. The first part linking the Ben Thanh market terminal in the city centre and Tham Luong Depot in District 12 is expected to go online in 2016.

The route is estimated to cost a total of $l.2 billion, mostly lent by the Asian Development Bank ($540 million), European Investment Bank ($190 million) and the German development bank KfW ($304 million, including a non refundable assistance amount of $108 million). The Vietnamese government is expectd to contribute $200 million, accounting for 16 per cent of the total investment capital.

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 two will have a designed transport capacity of some 40,000 passengers per hour.

Nguyen Do Luong, director of MAUR, said: “As a connection to the city’s northwestern areas and the downtown and having many intersections with other metro routes, the Ben Thanh-Tham Luong route will be a backbone for the city’s metro system.”

He added that the route would have 10 underground stations plus one aboveground station at Tan Binh. These all will be transit stations for most of the coming metro routes in the city.

Ho Chi Minh City plans to build six metro routes with a combined length of 109km. The six routes will include also Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien, Ben Thanh-Tan Kien, Binh Duong province’s Ben Cat-Nguyen Van Linh, Long An province’s Can Giuoc-the Saigon Bridge and Ba Queo-Phu Lam.

Construction of the first metro line linking Ben Thanh and Suoi Tien through 19.7km is now in progress and expected to come on line in 2015.

Recently, the city’s authorities proposed the central government increase the first metro route’s investment capital 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.

“We [MAUR] have been prudently calculating the budget for the second metro line learning from the experience of the first metro route’s swelling investment,” said Luong.

Besides the six metro routes, the southern hub is also working on one tramway system and two monorails to solve the increasing traffic congestion.

The first 12.2km tramway starting from Ben Thanh market and going along the East-West Highway and the Ben Nghe-Tau Hu Canal to the Mien Tay coach station with six main stations and 17 stopovers is expected to be completed in 2012.