New railway bridge continues running behind schedule in HCMC

The new Binh Loi railway bridge in HCMC is expected to be put into operation in June 2016 but inauguration time then delayed till November 2018. Recently, the project’s investor has proposed to adjust the deadline until 2020.
New Binh Loi Bridge is under construction in HCMC with the height from the water surface to the bridge much higher than the old adjacent one (Photo: SGGP)
New Binh Loi Bridge is under construction in HCMC with the height from the water surface to the bridge much higher than the old adjacent one (Photo: SGGP)
In March 2015, the Ministry of Transport announced the list of investors registering to build the new bridge and dredge a 71 kilometer long passage in the Saigon river from the bridge to Ben Suc port in the neighboring province of Binh Duong.
The joint venture between GUD and STD construction firms was chosen to be the investor of the project of building the 1.3 kilometer long bridge with the height from the water surface to the bridge reaching seven meters, 5.5 meters higher than that of the old one, to facilitate waterway traffic.
According to Binh Loi BOT Investment Company, the new bridge project has the total investment funds of VND1,302 billion (US$56.13 million) with eight consulting and construction bid packages, locating 12 meters downstream from the old one. It has been designed to allow trains to travel at the speed of 100 kilometers an hour.
The Project Management Board No.7 under the Ministry of Transport said that the project is expected to be built on April 30. Afterward, the 117-year-old bridge will be removed before June 30.
At the end of February this year, the board continued seeking the ministry’s permission to delay inauguration time and the Ministry of Transport has approved to extend it until the first quarter next year.
The ministry has assigned quality management agencies under the ministry to consult it on procedures to change the project construction progress, determine reasons for the extension of each bid package to have a basis to make clear responsibilities of relevant sides and implement payment as well as other terms of contracts.
Aside from that, the ministry requires the board, the investor and Binh Loi BOT Company to seriously learn from experiences for weaknesses during the implementation of the project to make sure its progress and investment quality, urgently complete procedures on environmental impact estimation and basic design change in April this year. They should prompt contractors to speed up construction to build the new bridge on schedule, it added.
New railway bridge continues running behind schedule in HCMC ảnh 1 New Binh Loi Bridge is under construction in HCMC with the height from the water surface to the bridge much higher than the old adjacent one (Photo: SGGP)

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