Mr. Nguyen Quoc Hien, Deputy Head of the Ho Chi Minh City Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR), stated that it is crucial to adhere to contract conditions and for the contractor Hitachi to show goodwill in completing the remaining tasks of the project to ensure the timely commercial operation of Metro Line No.1 Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien.
On the afternoon of July 16, Deputy Head Nguyen Quoc Hien informed that MAUR had reported to the HCMC People's Committee and drafted reports to the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the project's progress, existing issues, and proposed solutions to prepare for the commercial operation of Metro Line No.1.
Specifically, HCMC requested the Prime Minister to consider enhancing diplomatic engagement with Japan (government, embassy, JICA) to urge Hitachi Group and the contractor Hitachi to expedite the project’s implementation, focus on completing the project concurrently with resolving commercial issues, rather than waiting for all issues to be resolved before proceeding with the work.
Currently, the project has not completed the procedures to adjust the implementation timeline, resulting in obstacles and difficulties in making payments to the contractor. The Ministry of Finance's Department of Debt Management and External Finance has stated that without completing the timeline adjustment, there is no basis for processing payment requests for the project.
Regarding the imported goods for the CP3 bidding package, the extension of the tax-exempt list is currently not permitted. Approval of the adjustment to the implementation timeline is necessary to provide a legal basis for the HCMC Customs Department to extend the tax-exempt goods list. This issue is impacting the project's completion schedule.
To expedite the disbursement of public investment capital for the project, MAUR recommends that the Prime Minister consider and approve allowing continued payments for completed phases concurrently with finalizing adjustments to the project's implementation timeline.
Regarding firefighting and rescue operations, the MAUR recommends that the Fire Prevention and Fighting Police Department under the Ministry of Public Security promptly review and approve the firefighting and rescue designs for CPla and CP2 packages.
Ministries, departments, and the State Inspection Council for construction acceptance are encouraged to support and guide the implementation of construction acceptance activities to accelerate project completion progress.
