New disbursement reaches over 73% of total investment
The above information was stated by the Ho Chi Minh City Urban Railway Management Board (MAUR) in a document sent to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction on the implementation of urban railway projects in the area.
According to MAUR, up to now, Metro Line 1 has disbursed VND32,085 billion out of VND43,757 billion in total investment (reaching a rate of 73.33%).
In 2025, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee has assigned a capital plan to the project, including VND 2,150 billion of ODA loans and VND 365.6 billion of counterpart capital. To date, the project has disbursed VND711 billion, reaching 28.27% of the annual plan.
In particular, the ODA capital granted from the Central Government was not registered at the time of capital planning, because it is necessary to recalculate based on the capital that has not been disbursed according to the approved limit after the 2024 capital plan.
On that basis, MAUR recommended that the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee submit to the Ministry of Finance for consideration and report to competent authorities to assign the ODA capital plan for 2025 with an amount of 445 billion VND to promptly disburse for packages under the VN15-P5 loan agreement before the maturity date.
Metro Line 1 was put into commercial operation from December 22, 2024.
However, some auxiliary items such as the information technology system for maintenance and operation (O&M) and the O&M office building are still under construction, expected to be completed in June 2025.
Therefore, MAUR has recently proposed that the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee adjust the completion time of the entire Metro Line 1 project to the end of the fourth quarter of 2025. The adjustment aims to ensure a legal basis for conducting acceptance and payment for the remaining tasks.
Legal problems in resolving contractor complaints
Another difficult problem for Metro No. 1 is the settlement of complaints and prolonged complaints from contractors. These complaints have existed since 2012 and have not been completely resolved.
According to Notice No. 78/TB-VPCP dated March 4, 2025 of the Government Office, Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh has directed to thoroughly resolve problems related to payment to contractors, requiring completion before April 30, 2025.
However, MAUR said that many problems are beyond the authority of the investor and the City, so they cannot meet the direction of the Prime Minister.
The reason pointed out by MAUR is due to differences between Vietnamese legal regulations and international practices, unclear settlement mechanisms, limited funding sources and some overlapping legal regulations.
Regarding the group of issues under the authority of Ho Chi Minh City, MAUR is coordinating with relevant departments and branches to try to resolve them in the second quarter of 2025.
Particularly for complaints exceeding the authority, such as related to CP2 and CP3 bidding packages need guidance from the central level. In case of necessity, the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City will report to the Standing Committee of the Party Committee, the Prime Minister or the Politburo to apply for a policy of the mediation plan.
Currently, MAUR and contractors are establishing a procedures for direct discussion and establishing a Trade mediation Council at international mediation centers in Vietnam. The mediation work is expected to be completed in 2025.
