HCMC's first metro line projects suffer delays

Metro Line No.1 and No.2 in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s southern economic hub, are undergoing delays in preparation and completion.

Construction of the second route has been rescheduled to 2025 instead of starting this year as the city administration has to look for a new consultant to replace the former, which had already walked out.

In its latest report to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the city's administration said the Ho Chi Minh City Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR) is working on bidding procedures for a new consultant for the second line.

The authority, as project investor, signed the first independent consultant agreement in 2012 with a consortium led by a German company. The consultant worked until October 2018 and stopped because of some fee disputes for service packages not included in the first agreement. MAUR had said the consultancy demanded nearly 29%, or 12.6 million euros, more than the original sum agreed in 2012.

In 2019, the two sides kept negotiating for a contract appendix so that work could resume, but no deals were reached.

For now, MAUR estimated it would take 12-18 months to find a new consultant. The authority also expects to find construction contractors in 2024, with work set to start in 2025 and complete in 2030.

Approved in 2010, Line No.2, the 11-kilometer-long project from District 1 to District 12, had an original cost of $1.3 billion, but this soared to $2.1 billion in 2019 due to rises in material prices and construction costs. It will start at Ben Thanh Depot, the city’s metro hub, and finish at Tham Luong Depot.

Meanwhile, Line No.1 from Ben Thanh in District 1 to Suoi Tien Depot in District 9 has been re-scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of next year, two years later than the earlier target, city authorities said.

In a recent letter to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the municipal administration asked for approval to postpone the completion deadline, citing social distancing and lockdowns amid the pandemic over the past two years as the reason. Many foreign specialists were unable to enter Vietnam during that time, delaying the progress of some bidding packages, particularly for complex and highly technical components, according to the report.

Other reasons include failure to sign the appendix for one consultancy contract, which has affected consultations, staff training, and installation of information technology systems. Moreover, testing and appraising quality in line with international standards takes time as there are no similar standards in Vietnam, while preparations for certifying system safety face many changes in legislative requirements and guidelines from competent state bodies, the report added.

To date, Line No.1 is more than 90% complete, according to official data. In all, the southern economic hub has eight metro lines already planned with a combined length of 220 kilometers and a cost totaling almost $25 billion.