The government is pushing for the operation of the Nhon - Hanoi Station and Ben Thanh

The government has requested that relevant units put the Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien metro line and the elevated section of the Nhon - Hanoi Station urban railway into operation and exploitation in 2024.

Both the Nhon - Hanoi Station (Hanoi) and Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien (Ho Chi Minh City) metro lines have experienced numerous delays and missed their scheduled commissioning dates.

In the Resolution on socio-economic development for 2024 dated January 7th, the Government also assigned units to accelerate the progress of a series of key projects such as the North-South Expressway (Eastern section); Ring Road 4 of the Capital Region; Ring Road 3 of Ho Chi Minh City; the expressways of Khanh Hoa - Buon Ma Thuot, Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang, Bien Hoa - Vung Tau, Tuyen Quang - Ha Giang ; Long Thanh Airport; and Terminal 3 of Tan Son Nhat Airport.

The whole country aims to have 3,000 km of expressways by 2025, with at least 130 km completed in 2024; the maritime routes to Cai Mep - Thi Vai and Nam Nghi Son ports need to be upgraded soon.

To achieve the above objectives, the Government requires relevant units to focus on resolving obstacles related to land clearance, compensation, support, resettlement, conversion of forest and rice land use; ensuring the supply of raw materials and controlling prices. In addition, units need to monitor developments in the construction materials market, ensuring a balance between supply and demand, stabilizing the market, especially for key materials.

The Nhon - Hanoi Station train underwent trial runs on December 5, 2022. Photo: Pham Chieu — The Nhon - Hanoi Station train underwent trial runs on December 5, 2022. Photo: *Pham Chieu*

The Nhon - Hanoi Station Metro line is 12.5 km long, with 8 elevated stations and 4 underground stations, passing through 6 districts: Bac Tu Liem, Nam Tu Liem, Cau Giay, Dong Da, Hoan Kiem, and Ba Dinh. The project started in 2009, with a planned completion date of 2015, but after four delays, the new completion date for the entire line is now projected to be 2027.

In March 2023, Hanoi proposed operating the elevated section of the Nhon - Hanoi Station line in August 2023 instead of the end of 2022 as previously committed. However, the timeline was later changed to the end of April or beginning of May 2024. In early January, the Hanoi City Inspectorate requested an investigation into the responsibility of organizations and individuals that caused the Nhon - Hanoi Station project to repeatedly delay its progress and increase its budget from 783 million euros to 1,378 million euros.

The Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien Metro line has a total investment of over 43,700 billion VND, spanning nearly 20 km from Ben Thanh, District 1 to Long Binh Depot, Thu Duc City. This is the first urban railway project in Ho Chi Minh City, commenced in 2012. After adjustments, the project was expected to be completed by the end of 2021, but this target was not achieved due to numerous obstacles such as the pandemic and the prolonged waiting period for signing Appendix 19 – the general consulting contract. The latest operational date for the Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien metro line is June 2024, with commercial operation scheduled to begin one month later.

Viet Tuan

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