Ho Chi Minh City aims to complete 3 metro lines before 2030

Ho Chi Minh City leaders have directed to focus on completing at least three key metro lines before 2030, in an effort to accelerate the development of the city’s urban railway network. These lines include metro line 2 (Ben Thanh – Tham Luong), metro line 2 (Ben Thanh – Thu Thiem) and Thu Thiem – Long Thanh.

Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien metro line in Ho Chi Minh City today. (Photo: Navy).

Target by 2030

According to the plan approved by the Prime Minister , Ho Chi Minh City's urban railway network includes 27 lines with a total length of 1,024 km. The city aims to complete about 232 km of urban railway by 2030, with a total preliminary investment of about 19.67 billion USD.

Priority routes for the period 2025-2030

In the period 2025 - 2030, Ho Chi Minh City will focus on investing and completing 6 important routes, including:

Metro Line 2 (Ben Thanh - Tham Luong section)
Metro Line 2 (Ben Thanh - Thu Thiem)
Thu Thiem – Long Thanh route
Binh Duong New City – Suoi Tien route
Thu Dau Mot – Ho Chi Minh City route
Phase 1, Metro Line 6 (Tan Son Nhat – Phu Huu)
Ben Thanh – Can Gio route

The city’s leaders require the entire political system to focus on completing these six metro lines and two national railway lines assigned by the Central Government. In particular, three key metro lines must be completed before 2030 with clearly defined milestones and responsibilities.

Funding challenges and proposed solutions

According to the assessment, capital from the Central Government and the Ho Chi Minh City budget currently only meets about 66% of the total investment demand. To solve this problem, the city is urgently developing a project to mobilize additional resources.

Key solutions include exploiting land funds according to the urban development model associated with public transport (TOD) and applying public-private partnership (PPP) methods, especially build-transfer (BT) contracts.

At the meeting, the Director of the Ho Chi Minh City Institute for Development Studies also proposed establishing a 100% state-owned Urban Railway Corporation, under the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee, to ensure synchronous investment, management and operation of the metro system.

Progress of specific projects

Metro Line 2 (Ben Thanh - Tham Luong)

This project is expected to start construction in January 2026. Currently, Ho Chi Minh City is coordinating with relevant ministries and branches to unify the list of technical standards and regulations applicable to the project.

The Metro Line 2 construction project was first approved in 2010 and adjusted in 2019 with a total investment of about VND47,891 billion. The line is more than 11 km long, including an underground section of more than 9 km and an elevated section of nearly 2 km, with a total of 10 stations (9 underground stations and 1 elevated station).

Ben Thanh – Can Gio route

According to the plan, the city will hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the Ben Thanh – Can Gio route on December 19. Departments and branches are required to carry out many tasks in parallel to ensure progress and avoid waiting due to lack of coordination.

Planning and management orientation

Ho Chi Minh City leaders require relevant units to select capable investors and review the overall railway network planning to suit the city's new development space. These adjustments will be updated in the general planning and planning of Ho Chi Minh City for the period 2021 - 2030, with a vision to 2050.

To closely monitor progress, the HCMC Urban Railway Management Board will develop two Gantt charts: one for the period from now until 2030 and one for the period until June 2026. This tool aims to fully monitor the progress of each department, agency, and sector in implementing assigned tasks.

Source: https://baolamdong.vn/tphcm-dat-muc-tieu-hoan-thanh-3-tuyen-metro-truoc-nam-2030-403231.html