Hanoi’s second metro line project to drag on to 2029

Hanoi Urban Railway Management Board has proposed to delay the Nhon-Hanoi Station urban railway project for seven years and an extra investment capital expenditure of over $200 million.

Work on the city's second railway project started in 2009, originally scheduled for completion in 2022, but construction progress has been delayed.

The project is deploying all 10 main bidding packages. Its overall completion progress is about 74.36%. The figures for the elevated and underground sections are 95.1% and 33%, respectively.

According to a representative of the board (MRB), the project now faces five major challenges. First, equipment contracts have seen both implementation time and costs extended due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, which delayed and disrupted manufacturing and importing of equipment and prevented the travel of specialists from Europe.

Other problems include site clearance and disputes with international contractors due to delays.

According to the new proposal, the elevated section will be operational in 2022, the full route in 2027, with warranty and payment settlement completion in 2029.

MRB also asked for the total project investment to rise to VND34,532 billion ($1.49 billion), an increase of $211.6 million.

The extra costs are derived from the variation of the exchange rate between the Euro and Vietnamese dong, amendments to the design and technical requirement to fit the implementation reality and operational mode, delays, updates of investment expenditures, and work supplements, it claimed

The Nhon-Hanoi Station section of Hanoi's pilot urban railway project is 12.5 kilometers long. The line has eight elevated stations and four underground, with an 8.5-kilometer elevated section from Nhon in Bac Tu Liem district to Cau Giay district and four-kilometer underground section from Cau Giay district to Hanoi Station in Dong Da district. Hanoi Station is one of Vietnam's major train hubs.

The project is funded by official development assistance loans from the French government, French Development Agency, Asian Development Bank, European Investment Bank, and domestic counterpart funds.