Building 355km of metro in 10 years
According to the project to develop the urban railway system of Ho Chi Minh City, from now until 2035, the city will focus on investing in 7 metro lines with a total length of 355 km.
The routes include: Metro No. 1 (An Ha - Long Binh Depot) with a length of 40.8 km; Metro No. 2 (Thu Thiem - Binh My Depot) with a length of 62.2 km; Metro No. 3 (An Ha - Hiep Binh Phuoc Depot) with a length of 45.8 km; Metro No. 4 (Dong Thanh - Hiep Phuoc Urban Area) with a length of 47.3 km; Metro No. 5 (Hung Long University Urban Area - Vinhomes Grand Park) with a length of 53.9 km; Metro No. 6 (ring in Thu Duc City, District 7, Binh Chanh, inner-city districts) with a length of 53.8 km; Metro No. 7 (Tan Kien Station - Long Binh Depot) with a length of 51.2 km
After 2035, the city will continue to build 3 more 155 km metro lines, bringing the total length of the network to 510 km. Ho Chi Minh City also added a plan for two potential routes: Metro Line 11 (Binh Tan District - Cu Chi) and Metro Line 12 (District 7 - Can Gio Coastal Urban Area), each route is 48.7 km long.
Although the plan is ambitious, looking at the recent implementation of metro in Ho Chi Minh City, it can be seen that there are many challenges. Metro Line 1 (Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien) is only 20 km long but took 17 years to complete. Metro Line 2 (Ben Thanh - Tham Luong) has not yet started construction despite being approved for 15 years. At the current rate, building 355 km of metro in 10 years is a difficult problem.
The metro's progress has been delayed recently, mainly due to problems in site clearance. In addition, dependence on ODA capital with complicated procedures and long negotiation time leads to capital increase.
Metro lines to start construction from 2027
To remove obstacles, the National Assembly has just passed a Resolution to pilot a number of specific mechanisms and policies, especially to develop the urban railway network system in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
The new policy is a breakthrough with many important points, including flexible capital mobilization, allowing the city to issue urban bonds, exploit land funds along metro lines according to the TOD model (urban development according to the orientation of public transport), and receiving support from the central budget. At the same time, investment procedures are shortened thanks to the mechanism of bidding and simplifying the approval process, helping to speed up progress.
Mr. Tran Quang Lam - Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Transport said that the city is developing a detailed plan with a clear roadmap to deploy 7 metro lines from now until 2035.
To realize this goal, Ho Chi Minh City is studying the establishment of a Metro Development Fund, mobilizing resources from the budget from the central, local and private sectors.According to the plan, the 2025-2027 period will focus on completing project preparation work.Compensation, support, resettlement and site handover must be completed in the period of 2027-2028.The metro lines will start construction in 2027 and at the latest in 2028, ensuring the set schedule.
In terms of capital, the total investment for the 7 metro lines in the 2025-2035 period is estimated at 40.21 billion USD, including: 11.4 billion USD from the Ho Chi Minh City budget; 8.4 billion USD from the central budget; 6.3 billion USD from local bonds; 7.8 billion USD from exploitation of TOD land fund; 6.6 billion USD from the private sector.
autonomy in metro technology
Architect Ngo Viet Nam Son - an urban planning specialist, commented that the TOD model is considered the key to attracting resources for the Ho Chi Minh City metro. However, Mr. Son noted that TOD only takes effect when there is a synchronously connected infrastructure ecosystem, especially the bus network, airports, seaports, railways and waterways.
If not implemented properly, the city may have to compensate for millions of USD each year, on the contrary, when TOD is well developed, the areas around metro stations will become the driving force for urban growth.
To build a TOD ecosystem, Ho Chi Minh City needs to mobilize billions of USD to invest in infrastructure, while having a clear capital recovery roadmap to attract the private sector. Mr. Son proposed to establish a TOD group that gathers strategic investors to operate the metro effectively.
Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Ba Hoang - former Vice Principal of Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport, highly appreciated the flexible capital mobilization policy in the Resolution of the National Assembly. Lessons from Metro No. 1 show that too much dependence on ODA capital has caused the project to last for 17 years, increasing capital by 2.5 times.
Another important issue is the technology of metro construction and operation. If we still completely depend on foreign contractors, high costs and prolonged time are inevitable.
Some large corporations such as THACO or Vingroup have proposed investing in new metro lines, such as the route connecting Ho Chi Minh City - Can Gio. This is a positive signal, helping the locality to proactively mobilize resources, ensure progress and affirm the ability of Vietnamese people to master metro technology" - Mr. Hoang said.
