Vietnam HCM City, ADB Sign $40M Loan Agreement for Metro Route Project

Authorities of Vietnam’s southern economic hub of Ho Chi Minh City Sept 29 signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on $40 million loan for metro route No.2 with officials from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). ADB asked for the signing after it and the Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR) had surveyed packages and site clearance of the project in a move to prepare the next loan of $500 million. Ben Thanh-Tham Luong will require a cost of nearly $1.4 billion with $540 million is expected to come from ADB, $313 million from the German Reconstruction Credit Institute (KfW) and $195 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB). The second metro route, which was kicked off in late Aug, is designed to have length of 20 kilometers, beginning at Thu Thien and ending in An Suong Bus Station. The project will be divided into two phases, with the first phase focusing on construction of 11-kilometer section from Ben Thanh market to Tham Luong with 11 stations. It is slated for completion 2016. (Thoi bao Kinh te Saigon – Saigon Times Daily Sept 30)