WB to Fund $290M for Bus Rapid Transit Project in Vietnam HCM City

The World Bank (WB) plans to fund $290 million for Vietnam’s southern metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City to conduct Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project in an effort to ease overloaded traffic, state media reported on Feb 7. Representatives of the WB and the municipal government worked in the city on Feb 6 on the project which is expected to put into operation by early 2013, the Phap Luat Tp. HCM newspaper reported. The BRT is planned to operate in a 12-kilometer section from Vo Van Kiet Boulevard to Western coach station for the first phase and a 14-kilometer section from Ben Thanh, the city’s biggest market, to Suoi Tien tourism site in the second phase, the newspaper said. In October, 2010, the municipal authorities approved a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project worth $2 million funded by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) to ease traffic jams. Applying BRT is part of the municipal authorities’ efforts to curb the overloaded traffic which resulted from unscientific urban planning and administration. The city’s limited transport land, accounting for only 7% is reported to be unable to bear the flows of migrants flocking to the city for working, studying and recreation. (Phap Luat Tp. HCM – HCM City Law Feb 7 p6)