The site is ready
On November 7, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee issued a plan to implement the project to build metro line No. 2 to ensure conditions for early commencement of the project; contributing to the completion of the goal of developing and completing the urban railway network in Ho Chi Minh City according to Resolution No. 188/2025/QH15 of the National Assembly on piloting a number of specific and special mechanisms and policies to develop the urban railway network system in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
Accordingly, the work of submitting and issuing the project implementation plan as well as adjusting the reports will be carried out from October to December 2025. The investor ( Ho Chi Minh City Urban Railway Management Board) is responsible for implementing related work in November and December 2025, thereby starting the entire route on January 15, 2026. The Department of Construction is the standing agency, monitoring and urging relevant agencies and units to implement the plan.
In the report dated November 24 on the implementation of urban railway projects in the City, Head of the Ho Chi Minh City Urban Railway Management Board Phan Cong Bang said that the site handover rate for the metro line 2 project has reached 100% (585/585 cases). The relocation of technical infrastructure for electricity, water supply, drainage, signs, lighting, traffic lights, trees, telecommunications, etc. has been carried out at 12/12 locations.
The Ben Thanh - Tham Luong metro project has 8 main construction packages. Up to now, package CP1 (construction of office building and auxiliary works at Tham Luong depot) has been completed and put into use; the remaining 7 main packages are being updated, reviewed and adjusted.
As a standing agency, on November 10, Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction Tran Quang Lam chaired a meeting on the technology plan; technical standards framework, and standards mainly applied to the Metro Line 2 project. This is the first project to pilot the application of specific and special mechanisms and policies of Resolution No. 188/2025/QH15. Therefore, the technology plan, technical standards framework, and standards mainly applied to the project are one of the bases for reference for other urban railway projects to be implemented in the near future.
Mr. Tran Quang Lam requested the investor to direct the appraisal and consulting units to focus on reviewing and studying opinions to clarify the basis for the selected options and the proposed adjustments to ensure consistency, synchronization, connectivity, and compliance with the orientation and planning for urban railway development in Ho Chi Minh City. Agencies and units should focus on implementing tasks according to the approved plan, ensuring the progress of the project commencement to welcome the 14th National Congress of the Party.
Urgently preparing to start construction
The Ben Thanh - Tham Luong Metro Line is over 11 km long; of which the underground section is over 9 km long, with 10 stations (9 underground stations, 1 elevated station). According to previous approval, the project has a total investment of 47,890 billion VND, most of which is ODA loans from 3 sponsors: Asian Development Bank (ADB), German Reconstruction Bank (KfW), European Investment Bank (EIB). During the implementation process, the project encountered many difficulties and problems and is currently being transferred to public investment from the city budget.
According to the Urban Railway Management Board, on March 6, 2025, the Standing Committee of the City Party Committee approved the transfer of all ODA capital to the use of city budget capital. Currently, the Prime Minister has approved the suspension of ODA loans from KfW and the adjustment of Loan and Aid Agreement No. 2. The suspension of ODA capital from ADB and EIB is also being carried out by the parties in accordance with relevant procedures.
Mr. Mai Thanh Tung, Deputy Head of Planning and Investment Department (Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction) said that the Ben Thanh - Tham Luong metro line is completing the project adjustment procedures and is expected to start construction in January 2026. Experience from metro line No. 1 shows that the delay is mainly due to the main reasons such as the binding regulations of ODA loans; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; this is the first metro line the city has deployed, exposure to new technology requires time to research and approach...
Learning from that experience, the City has proactively built a specific mechanism to increase initiative in approving and operating projects. The National Assembly also passed Resolution 188/2025/QH15, allowing the application of a series of breakthrough mechanisms such as bidding, decentralization, and strong authorization for the City People's Committee in approving projects, adjusting designs and total investment.
According to Mr. Mai Thanh Tung, the City has issued a plan to implement Resolution 188/2025/QH15 and a separate plan for the Ben Thanh - Tham Luong route. Thanks to the special mechanism from Resolution 188/2025/QH15 and the Railway Law 2025, the City has the conditions to shorten the investment preparation time, speed up contractor selection and remove procedural obstacles.
Based on the approval of the policy of appointing contractors for the Gantt line packages of the project, last September, the Urban Railway Management Board approved the results of the contractor selection for the consulting package to prepare the adjusted feasibility study report, FEED design and bidding of metro project No. 2.
The Urban Railway Management Board added that the work of preparing and reviewing the mid-term report was also completed by the investor and submitted to the Department of Construction and the Department of Planning and Architecture for appraisal; up to now, the Department of Construction has completed it to advise the City People's Committee to approve the technology plan applied to the project and has a document requesting the Ministry of Construction to unify the list of main standards and regulations applied to the project.
At the same time, the City Department of Construction is coordinating with the Urban Railway Management Board and related departments to complete the work contents to ensure the progress of approving the adjusted investment project on December 15.
The project's commencement date, January 15, 2026, as planned by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, is approaching. To achieve the above progress, the investor has launched a 60-day and night peak emulation movement to strive to complete the project's key tasks in 2025. These are the main tasks such as completing the project adjustment work; organizing the selection of EPC contractors, supervision consultants, project management contractors, etc. to commence the project.
Source: https://baotintuc.vn/kinh-te/gap-rut-chuan-bi-khoi-cong-metro-ben-thanh-tham-luong-dau-nam-2026-20251127121524394.htm
Comment (0)