On November 25, the Party Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee issued a notice on the proposed implementation plan for the construction project of Metro Line 2.
The Party Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee agreed on the policy of using the city's budget to continue implementing the Metro Line 2 project. At the same time, adding a synchronous connection project between Metro Lines 1 and 2 at Ben Thanh Station area to the Metro Line 2 project.
The Party Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee assigned the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to direct the Ho Chi Minh City Urban Railway Management Board to preside over and coordinate with the Department of Finance, Department of Transport, Department of Planning and Investment, Department of Construction and related units to urgently complete the implementation plan of Metro Line 2 project; report on comprehensive impact assessment of arising issues (legal, financial, diplomatic...); study and supplement the EPC mechanism to the Urban Railway Development Project according to Conclusion No. 49 of the Politburo.
At the same time, determine that Metro Line 2 must be a pilot project of policy mechanisms from the Urban Railway Development Project according to Conclusion No. 49, research and supplement policies to complete the implementation plan of Metro Line 2 project to ensure the proposed plan.
This work must be completed and reported to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee to submit to the Party Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee before November 28, 2024 to submit to the Standing Committee of the Ho Chi Minh City Party Committee.
The Ho Chi Minh City State Financial Investment Company was assigned to study appropriate capital mobilization plans to ensure the project is implemented on schedule. Relevant departments and branches such as the Department of Transport, Department of Finance, Department of Planning and Investment were also required to coordinate closely and report to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee before November 30, 2024.
Metro Line 2 was approved in 2010 with an initial total investment of 1.3 billion USD (about 26,000 billion VND).
By 2019, the total investment was adjusted to nearly 2.1 billion USD (equivalent to 47,900 billion VND), of which ODA loans accounted for the majority, about 37,487 billion VND, from three main sponsors: Asian Development Bank (ADB), German Reconstruction Bank (KfW) and European Investment Bank (EIB).
According to the HCM City Urban Railway Management Board (MAUR), the project has signed five loan agreements with ADB, KfW and EIB. However, these loan agreements have now expired.
Financial arrangements for the project were delayed and changed compared to the original plan and legal status of the project due to donors changing lending conditions and the process of reviewing ODA loans (from mid-August 2024).
A recent report from MAUR shows that the financial arrangements for the project are facing many difficulties, leading to the CS2B consulting package - which plays an important role in construction supervision, design updates and main contractor selection, temporarily suspending the bidding process.
The contract is worth approximately 55.26 million euros (equivalent to 63 million USD), and is expected to be implemented from 2025 to 2032.
According to MAUR, to achieve the goal of completing the construction of Metro Line 2 by 2030, construction needs to be implemented from 2025.
The work of updating bidding documents and organizing contractor selection for the main packages of the project must be completed in 2025, which means that CS2B consultants must be mobilized as soon as possible.
The entire Metro Line 2 is more than 11km long, of which 9.2km is underground, the rest is elevated and the road leading to Tham Luong depot (District 12). The project has 9 underground stations and one elevated station.
According to the Urban Railway Development Project in accordance with Conclusion No. 49 of the Politburo, Ho Chi Minh City aims to build about 183km of metro lines by 2035 and expand an additional 168km by 2045. By 2060, the metro network will be completed with a total length of more than 510km.
To achieve this goal, Ho Chi Minh City needs about VND835,738 billion (equivalent to USD34.84 billion) in the period up to 2035. The period 2036-2045 requires an additional VND627,620 billion (USD26.17 billion), and from 2046 to 2060, VND973,714 billion (USD40.61 billion).
Ho Chi Minh City plans to mobilize all resources from the State budget and various forms of investment, in which the State budget plays a leading role, including: Increasing budget revenue; urban development according to the TOD model (urban development associated with public transport); public investment; bond issuance; support from the Central budget.
