http://english.vietnamnet.vn/social/2007/05/690230/
HCM City to have metro in 2010
VietNamNet Bridge - The People’s Committee of HCM City has approved a US$2.2 million technical assistance project for its $5 billion metro project.
Of the amount, US$1.7 million will come from Asia Development Bank (ADB) non-refundable aid, $500,000 from the Vietnamese Government and the remaining from HCM City and investors.
It is scheduled that the technical assistance project will be completed in April 2008.
HCM City’s metro system will have a total length of 54km, with six rails, 22 stations and four routes. The central station will be located at 23/9 Park in District 1.
Metro routes will be built one by one and the first two routes will be put into operation in 2010. The whole project will be completed in 2020.
The metro project aims to reduce 25% of the volume of motorbikes running in the city by 2010. Once all metro routes become operational, it will help reduce half of the volume of motorbikes circulating on the road.
HCM City has called for foreign investment for the metro project. In mid 2006, Germany’s Siemens group said it would invest in two metro routes which have a total investment of around Eur800 million. Of the number, HCM City will invest 30%, borrow Eur100 million of ODA from Germany and Eur20 million from Austria.
HCM City’s metro system will include the following routes:
1/ Ben Thanh - Binh Tay - Phu Lam - An Lac: around 15km in total length, the 5km Ben Thanh - Binh Tay section will be built first
2/ Ben Thanh - Go Vap: around 11km with priority given to the 5km Ben Thanh - Chien Thang Park (Tan Binh District)
3/ Ben Thanh - Thu Duc - Bien Hoa: 22km, priority given to 11km Ben Thanh - Thu Duc section
4/ 5km Ben Thanh - Thu Thiem to the centre of the future urban areas of Xom Chong - Xom Moi
The estimated capacity of those routes (a train with 5-6 carriages runs every five minutes) is 1.644 million passengers per year, or 600-800 passengers/year in the first years of operation
In the far future, metro routes will be developed into closed circles similar to those in big cities in the world
(Source: HCM City Institute of Economics)
