The commitment was made at a meeting between head of the board Bui Xuan Cuong and contractors and other sides relevant to the construction of the first metro line project.
At the meeting, Mr. Cuong reviewed some difficulties in the project building for the last past, especially problems in investment capital adjustment, inspection and audit conclusion implementation and payment lateness to contractors. They are major difficulties affecting the project progress.
According to Mr. Cuong, it requires huge efforts from all relevant sides to open the project to traffic in 2020. He hoped that all sides will closely work together to share and solve difficulties.
MAUR has submitted to the city People’s Committee the funds level for the project implementation in 2019 for approval.
The board’s point of view is fastest disbursement for contractors but some matters are beyond its jurisdiction, he expressed.
Still MAUR still hoped that these problems will soon be cleared to make full payment to contractors according to the work volume they have done as the central government has approved the policy of increasing investment capital for the project.
He pledged a vigorous change in management of the project especially the close coordination among relevant sides to build the route.
Mr. Duong Huu Hoa, director of the project, said that Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien’s done work volume was behind plan in 2018. Specifically, it reached only 62 percent lower than the plan of 65 percent.
Mr. Hoa blamed the issue to the payment lateness to contractors of bid packages and coordination between MAUR and agencies and contractors in the payment. Legal change also contributed to the issue, he added.
The project needs to be sped up in 2019 with specific solutions including the coordination among investors, consultants and contractors, he stressed.
The project management board has set the target of completing 80 percent of work volume this year. So Mr. Hoa suggested consultants and contractors to review the project’s progress and pay attention to major parts of the metro line such as critical path.
In his side, Mr. Hoa affirmed that the investor, MAUR, will work with them to supervise construction progress. In the first quarter this year, the board will focus on disbursement to contractors of parts whose acceptance has been done in order not to affect the progress.
At the meeting, contractors and consultants expressed their consideration for the payment, saying payment lateness has seriously impacted the project’s progress for the last past and concerning that it will be difficult to complete the metro line in 2020.
Deputy director of the Department of Transport Nguyen Van Tam answered some queries from contractors about the process and procedures of solving documents, committing that the agency will work with relevant sides to clear problems to ensure the fastest approval and assessment of documents related to the project.
