Vietnam has secured additional funding for Hanoi’s first metro line as the government pushes to complete the project.
According to VnExpress, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc signed an agreement to borrow an additional US$251 million during his first visit to China last week. Phuc also met with Ma Jiangqian, the director of China Railway Sixth Group Co. Ltd., the primary contractor on the capital’s oft-maligned Cat Linh-Ha Dong railway line.
The news source reports that Phuc asked the contractor to ensure that the delayed project is completed quickly and safely, as the line was originally scheduled for completion in 2013 and is still not ready. The prime minister expressed his displeasure with the progress on the railway, as construction has caused severe traffic problems and several accidents. In November 2011, for example, steel rolls fell from a construction site and killed a passerby.
Meanwhile, Jiangqian pledged to improve safety measures and complete basic construction work by the end of this year in the hope that trial runs on the line can be begin next July.
Elsewhere in Hanoi, authorities have approved a proposal to build an underground station on the city’s second metro line near Hoan Kiem Lake, according to VietnamNet. The local Department of Planning and Architecture first suggested the station in 2013 and met resistance from people who believe it will disrupt the lake’s beauty.
Meanwhile, in Saigon, authorities are working to speed up work on the city’s second metro line. Earlier in the summer Dinh La Thang, head of the municipal Party Committee, assured German Ambassador to Vietnam Christian Berger that construction would be fast-tracked, Nhan Dan reports. The line, which will cover 11.3 kilometers from Ben Thanh station to Tham Luong Station in District 12, was originally scheduled for completion in 2018, but that has been pushed back to 2019. The cost for the project has ballooned as well, from an original US$1.3 billion to US$2.1 billion. The German Development Bank is providing significant funding for the system.
[Rendering via Systra]
