HCM City to pump $2b into transport

As part of efforts to stimulate growth in the country’s largest economic hub, the HCM City Department of Transport plans to spend VND36 trillion (US$2.1 billion) this year in building transport infrastructure.

The money
, from domestic and foreign sources, will be spent on 37 projects, work on which will begin this year.

Among the major works are the 20-kilometre Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro line that will cost $1.9 billion and an underground parking lot beneath Le Van Tam Park in District 1.

When completed, the 8.59-hectare, three-storeyed lot will provide parking space for 2,705 cars.

Both projects have been held up in the last few years by administrative procedures.

The year will also see the construction of major bridges, including Sai Gon 2 across the Sai Gon River and Rach Chiec on the Ha Noi Highway, expansion of National Highway 13 and the Ha Noi Highway, and construction of the Lien Cang A route.

Bui Xuan Cuong, head of the department’s Traffic Management Office, blamed the delays in major transport projects to sluggishness in site clearance, investors’ financial shortcomings, and poor design and managerial quality.

He also blamed them on the high prices of cement and steel last year.

He added the Government decided to compensate contractors for the losses they suffered as a result of the price hikes.

But with the prices now dropping steeply, he said the Government would reconsider the compensation policy. (VNS)