Government urges operation of Nhon - Hanoi station and Ben Thanh

The Government requires units to put into operation and exploit the Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien metro line and the elevated section of the Nhon - Hanoi railway station urban railway in 2024.

The two metro lines Nhon - Hanoi Railway Station (Hanoi) and Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien (HCMC) have both been delayed many times, missing the deadline to put them into operation.

In the Resolution on socio-economic development in 2024 dated January 7, the Government also assigned units to speed up the progress of a series of key projects such as the North-South expressway in the East; Ring Road 4 of the Capital Region; Ring Road 3 of Ho Chi Minh City; Khanh Hoa - Buon Ma Thuot, Chau Doc - Can Tho - Soc Trang, Bien Hoa - Vung Tau, Tuyen Quang - Ha Giang expressways; Long Thanh airport; Terminal T3 of Tan Son Nhat airport.

The whole country strives to have 3,000 km of expressway by 2025, and at least 130 km by 2024; the sea routes to Cai Mep - Thi Vai and Nam Nghi Son ports need to be upgraded soon.

To achieve the above objectives, the Government requires units to focus on removing obstacles in site clearance, compensation, support, resettlement, conversion of forest and rice land use purposes; ensuring sources of raw materials and controlling prices. In addition, units need to monitor developments in the construction materials market, ensuring supply and demand balance, stabilizing the market, especially for key materials.

Nhon - Hanoi Railway Station train test run on December 5, 2022. Photo: Pham Chieu — Nhon - Hanoi Railway Station train test run on December 5, 2022. Photo: *Pham Chieu*

The Nhon - Hanoi Railway Station Metro Line is 12.5 km long, with 8 elevated stations and 4 underground stations, passing through 6 districts including Bac Tu Liem, Nam Tu Liem, Cau Giay, Dong Da, Hoan Kiem and Ba Dinh. The project started in 2009, with a planned completion date of 2015, but after four delays, the new completion date for the entire line is expected to be 2027.

In March 2023, Hanoi City proposed to operate the Nhon - Hanoi Station elevated section in August 2023 instead of the end of 2022 as previously committed. However, the time frame was later changed to late April and early May 2024. In early January, Hanoi City Inspectorate requested to review the responsibilities of organizations and individuals that caused the Nhon - Hanoi Station project to be delayed many times, increasing the capital from 783 to 1,378 million euros.

The Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien Metro Line has a total investment of more than 43,700 billion VND, nearly 20 km long from Ben Thanh, District 1 to Depot Long Binh, Thu Duc City. This is the first urban railway project in Ho Chi Minh City, started in 2012. After adjustment, the project was expected to be completed by the end of 2021, but this goal was not achieved due to many obstacles such as the epidemic, the waiting time for signing Appendix No. 19 - the general consulting contract was prolonged. The latest Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien metro line's operational milestone is June 2024 and commercial operation will take place a month later.

Viet Tuan

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