The Railway Project Management Unit and relevant bodies will supervise the payment process to sub-contractors to ensure they have financial sources for construction. It will also ask the EPC contractor and sub-contractors to speed up the construction to make up for the delay. The project is scheduled to begin trial run in October and be put into official operation in the second quarter of 2018.
Originally slated to be finished two years ago, capital issues have hindered the progress of the capital’s first metro line, threatening to derail the project. The Cat Linh-Ha Dong urban railway will have 12 stations and one depot area. Out of the initially projected investment of 552 million USD, 419 million USD (76 percent) were loans from China and the rest matching funds by the Vietnamese Government.
Construction started in 2011 but since then costs have risen to 886 million USD, exceeding the original figure by 250 million USD, or a 160 percent increase. An additional preferential loan worth 250.62 million USD, negotiated three years ago, was signed between the Ministry of Finance and China Eximbank on May 12.
