Ho Chi Minh City Urban Railway Management Board said that the construction progress of Metro Routes No.1, 2 and 5 was being sped up at a news conference hosted on Monday.
Constructors are working 24/7 on the construction site of the first metro route Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien. They are building pillars for constructing the route’s flyover section along Saigon Bridge and Hanoi Highway.
Similar condition is seen at the underground section in front of HCMC People’s Committee headquarters. It will be built before February 5 to hand over the space for Nguyen Hue Street upgrading project, which must be done on schedule to mark the 40th anniversary of the country’s Reunification Day.
Director of the HCMC Urban Railway Management Board Bui Xuan Cuong said that the Prime Minister had agreed to change the project’s progress, which would be built in 2019 and put into operation in the following year.
This year the board will sign contracts with domestic consultant companies to establish investment projects for Metro Routes No.2 and 5, from which it will call for investors and register Official Development Assistance fund.
Metro Route No.2 or Ben Thanh-Tham Luong is under design and technical infrastructure works have been removed from the project’s site.
Authorized agencies are assessing an initial design and environmental impact report of Metro Route No.5 stretching from Saigon Bridge to Bay Hien Crossroads. This project’s capital source has been arranged at about EUR1.31 billion (US$1.47 billion).
Each station of the metro routes will be connected with other public transport types via bus stations and parking lots, said Mr. Cuong.
According to the HCMC transport development plan by 2020, the city will have eight metro lines and three monorail routes.
