HCM City leaders expect 1st metro line to operate next year

March 15, 2019 | 10:50

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HCM City’s metro line No 1 between Ben Thanh Market in District 1 and Suoi Tien Tourist Park in District 9 will become operational by the end of 2020, according to the city’s Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR).

hcm city leaders expect 1st metro line to operate next year

The Ben Thanh – Suoi Tien metro line in HCM City is expected to be operational by the end of next year.-VNS Photo Tien Luc

Nguyen Thien Nhan, Secretary of the city Party Committee, visited the construction site including Ben Thanh Terminal and Phước Long and Ba Son stations.

Some 63 per cent of the 19.7km route has been completed so far, and 80 per cent is expected to be completed this year.

Costing more than VND47 trillion (more than US$2.1 billion), it will have a 17.1km elevated section and 2.6km underground section and 14 stations, 11 of them elevated and 3 underground.

Nhân said MAUR should learn from other countries’experience in building metros.

Bui Xuan Cuong, head of MAUR, said 1,425 workers and engineers are working to complete the line.

City authorities are also focused on acquiring land for the metro line No 2 between Ben Thanh Market and Tham Luong Bus Terminal (in District 12). Tenders have been invited for the construction, which is scheduled to begin in 2020.

The city has given priority to the first two metro routes, Cuong said.

According to the deputy chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Tran Vinh Tuyen, relevant agencies have approved the compensation to be paid for lands for the second line.

He urged district authorities to speed up land clearance so that construction could begin on schedule.

The city’s transport infrastructure master plan envisages building220km of urban railway at a cost of nearly $250 billion.

VNA

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