Ho Chi Minh City seeks investment for seven major projects

A train for HCM City Metro Line No. 1 is received in October last year. The city is planning to call for foreign investment for seven projects, including four metro lines. (Photo: VNA)

HCM City - HCM City is seeking foreign investment over the next five years for seven major projects, including four metro lines.

The projects include the second phase of the Metro Line No. 2, which connects Ben Thanh market with Thu Duc district’s Thu Thiem ward and Tham Luong to Tay Ninh bus station in Cu Chi district.

The second construction phase will be 9.1 kilometres in length and cost around 1.4 billion USD. It will help connect the city’s northwestern regions to its centre, as well as connect the Thu Thiem railway line to the future Long Thanh Airport in Dong Nai province.

The second project, Metro Line No. 3A (Ben Thanh – Tan Kien), is 19.5 kilometres long and costs 1.8 billion USD. It will connect to metro lines at the upcoming Ben Thanh Station in District 1 to transport travelers from the city centre to southwest provinces.

The third is Metro Line No.4 (Thanh Xuan – Hiep Phuoc Industrial Park), which is 36.2 kilometres long and costs over 4.5 billion USD. It will run across the city’s urban areas and Ben Thanh.

The last line is the first phase of Metro Line No. 5 (Bay Hien intersection – Sai Gon Bridge), which is nearly 9 kilometres and will cost over 1.7 billion USD. This line was among the metro lines prioritised for investment in 2012 – 2015 and 2016 – 2020, but was unsuccessful in attracting investment.

For this metro line, the city wants to work with governmental organisations with official development assistance funds, large corporations, and traffic infrastructure investors that are financially and technologically capable.

Three other projects include Thu Thiem financial centre, a centre for conferences, exhibitions, hotel and commercial services, and a Rach Chiec Sport Complex, all of which are to be built in Thu Duc district.

The project proposal is part of a report on national projects to call for FDI, which the city People’s Committee has recently submitted to the Ministry of Planning and Investment.

The city has been facing challenges finding investment in such traffic projects because investors do not see the benefits of investing in the projects or are hesitant to invest because they are all done on a massive scale and require a vast amount of capital.

Regulations on private – public partnership investment in traffic and railway projects still contain some weaknesses, according to the city.