The State Bank of Vietnam and the Asian Development Bank signed a US$540 million loan agreement to build an underground rail linking the city centre with District 12 on March 11.
Daily chaotic congestion in front of Bau Sen primary school in District 5.The southern city has signed a loan agreement with the Asian Development Bank to finance the construction of a mass transit system in the city.
Metro Line No.2 will be built as a Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) system in two phases. In the first phase, the line will be built along the three streets of Pham Hong Thai, Cach Mang Thang Tam and Truong Chinh to link the Ben Thanh Terminal in the city’s central area with Tham Luong Depot in District 12.
There will be a one-kilometre feeder line leading to the Tham Luong Depot, a 9.3 kilometre underground rail and an elevated section of almost one kilometre.
Metro Line No.2 is designed with three carriages able to carry about 810 passengers in the first stage, to be expanded by another three carriages in the second stage.
According to the schedule, the project will be built from 2012 – 2015. It is expected to operate by 2016.
The project is estimated to cost more than $1,374 billion, of which ADB will loan US$540 million, the EIB $195 million and KfW will provide $313 million and the remainder to be provided by the Vietnamese government.
On the same day, a loan agreement for the first stage of the project worth $40 million of the $540 million was signed between Ayumi Konishi, director of ADB in Vietnam and Nguyen Thanh Tai, permanent deputy Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee.
