Ministry assesses investment capital of two urban railway projects in HCMC

The Ministry of Transport yesterday organized a meeting to promptly assess total investment capital of HCMC's first and second urban railway projects Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien and Ben Thanh-Tham Luong. 
The construction site of Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro line in Binh Thanh district, HCMC (Photo: SGGP)
The construction site of Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro line in Binh Thanh district, HCMC (Photo: SGGP)
Assessment results would be reported to the Government to submit to the National Assembly (NA) in the next NA session.
According to information from the meeting, the two projects have run behind schedule and been short of funds. Of these, Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien project, approved in 2005-2006 with the total capital of VND17 trillion (US$748 million), has seen the funds raise to VND47 trillion ($2.07 billion) because of design adjustment and exchange rate changes.
Currently, over 50 percent of the work volume has completed and disbursement has topped 30 percent.
Similarly, Ben Thanh-Tham Luong metro line project also saw investment capital increase from VND26 trillion ($1.14 billion) to VND48 trillion ($2.11 billion) after re-calculating.
At the meeting, Minister of Transport Nguyen Van The proposed ministries, relevant agencies and HCMC People’s Committee to accomplish project assessment for the Government to consider and submit to the National Assembly in the upcoming time.
The ministry will report to the Government basic matters about the two projects on February 28 at the latest and send a complete report on the investment capital assessment and relevant proposals on March 10.
Minister Nguyen Van The stressed that relevant agencies should make clear the process of implementing the projects including changes in policy, relevant regulations, unit price and exchange rate to have assessment results in line with reality.
Assessment of Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien project can be divided into two groups, one will work on the done volume of the project and the other will work on the part which has not been built.

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