On February 26th, the Ministry of Transport (Transport) had a meeting on appraisal of Ho Chi Minh City Urban Railway Line 1 (Ben Thanh – Suoi Tien) and Line 2 (Ben Thanh – Tham Luong).
According to the Department of Planning and Investment and Railway Project Management Unit Ho Chi Minh City, in the two above projects, only Ben Thanh – Suoi Tien project is under construction and has reached over 50 percent of the volume, disbursement reached over 30 percent of capital.
Meanwhile, the Ben Thanh – Tham Luong investment project has just been built. Two projects approved by the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City, project management of urban railway as investors, using domestic capital and ODA capital of Japan.
Ben Thanh – Tham Luong project, long about 40km, total investment after the recalculation also increased capital from 26,000 billion to 48,000 billion. Both projects are slow and lack the capital. According to current guidelines and regulations, projects with total investment capital of over VND 10,000 billion must report to the National Assembly for consideration and decision on investment policy.
According to the Ministry of Transport, these projects are of prime concern to the Prime Minister, the Government, and the Government of Japan.
This is the time the relevant ministries and the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City urgently need to complete the appraisal for the Government to consider and submit to the National Assembly in the coming time.
Therefore, no later than February 28, the Ministry of Transport will report to the Government the basic issues of the project. The Ministry of Transport also requested the relevant ministries and the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City to urgently coordinate the implementation, so that by March 10 at the latest, the Ministry of Transport will report fully on the work total investment assessment and related recommendations.
The ministry also asked that the appraisal content should clarify the project process from the beginning to the present, as well as changes in the guidelines and regulations relating to the project during the implementation, unit price , norms, exchange rates for appraisal results, practical recommendations.
