The requirement has been announced by the Government Office after a meeting on the implementation of the first and second metro lines Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien and Ben Thanh-Tham Luong on February 27. The meeting took place at the Government Headquarters with the attendance by HCMC Party Chief Nguyen Thien Nhan, ministry leaders and the city Department of Transport.
According the requirement, the Ministry of Transport has been asked to carefully review and assess the total investment capital adjustment and report results to the Government before March 20.
The PM assigned the Ministry of Planning and Investment to work with the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Transport to build a capital project to construct the metro routes, maximum mobilize legal capital resources according to the law, report to the Prime Minister and submit to the Government and the National Assembly for approval.
On the basic of the Ministry of Transport’s assessment report and the draft report of the Government prepared by the Ministry of Planning and Investment, the Government Office will arrange a meeting of the Permanent Government to consider approving and submit to the National Assembly before March 30.
According to the Ministry of Transport, the first metro line project was approved by HCMC People’s Committee in 2005 with initial investment capital totaling VND17 trillion (US$747 million), which has increased to VND47 trillion ($2.07 billion) because of changes in design and exchange rate.
The project has completed over 50 percent of work volume and disbursement has topped 30 percent.
The investment capital of the second metro line Ben Thanh-Tham Luong has also raised from VND26 trillion ($1.14 billion) to VND48 trillion ($2.11 billion) after calculating. So far, only the management building of the project has been built.
The two projects have run behind schedule and faced capital shortage.
