Three foreign donors have pledged nearly US$931 million to fund construction of a 12-kilometer metro route in Ho Chi Minh City for which work will begin next month.
The money will be used to build the Ben Thanh – Tham Luong line under an agreement the city People’s Committee signed last week with the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the European Investment Bank (EIB), and the German Bank for Reconstruction (KfW).
KfW will provide the only non-refundable component -- $85.75 million out of the $240.75 million it will give in all. ADB and EIB will give loans of $540 million and $150 million.
The metro will be built as a Mass Rapid Transit system at a cost of almost $1.25 billion with a one-kilometer feeder line to Tham Luong Depot in District 12, a 10-kilometer underground section, and a one-kilometer elevated section.
It will be the first phase of the city’s Metro Line 2 connecting downtown with suburban Hoc Mon District.
In the second phase, the route will be extended by eight kilometers -- up to the Thu Thiem New Urban Area on the Ben Thanh side and up to Hoc Mon District on the Tham Luong side.
The system will be designed to have three railcars with a total capacity of 810 passengers.
Three more will be added in the second phase.
Metro Line 2 will carry 40,000 passengers an hour in either direction.
Work on the $1.1 billion first metro project -- on the Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien route – began in 2008 and is scheduled for completion in 2015.
The city plans to build three underground and six skytrain systems to meet the burgeoning demand for public transport.
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