The Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment has requested Ho Chi Minh City authorities to assess the remaining tasks of its first metro line to track progress, ensure adherence to proposed timelines, and prevent repeated delays in the project's planned completion.

The ministry responded to the city following the latter's proposal to adjust the planned completion and put the project into commercial operation by this year.

The Ministry of Planning and Investment requested the Ho Chi Minh City administration to determine the completion time of the metro line and confirm if the adjustment of the construction time would affect other components of the project.

The city should also report the opinions of the sponsor, the Japan International Cooperation Agency, about the adjustment.

The municipal administration was also tasked with reporting the anticipated rise in costs resulting from the delay, along with identifying the unit accountable for these additional expenses.

Earlier, the city informed the Ministry of Planning and Investment that the prime minister had given a nod to the postponement of the expected completion of the project.

The completion deadline was the last quarter of 2023, two years later than previously planned.

The metro line project is now 97.5 percent complete and embarked on a test run over the entire route from Ben Thanh Market in District 1 to Suoi Tien Theme Park in Thu Duc City for the first time in August last year.

The investor of the project, Ho Chi Minh City Urban Railway Management Board (MAUR), and contractors are striving to complete the whole line.

However, the investor needs to check and take over the project, assess and issue a system safety certificate, hand over infrastructure at the line, and complete procedures to end work on it before putting the metro route commercial operation.

Some jobs might not be completed until the first half of this year, according to the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee.

The evaluation processes for the metro line's safety and its fire prevention and fighting system will be completed by the end of the first half of 2024.

The metro line is scheduled to commence commercial operation in the last quarter of this year.

To address any issues, the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has formed a dedicated working team tasked with reviewing and eliminating obstacles hindering the project's progress.

The team, led by vice-chairman of the municipal government Bui Xuan Cuong and Deputy Ambassador of Japan in Vietnam Shige Watanabe, includes deputy head of MAUR Nguyen Quoc Hien, deputy chief representative of JICA in Vietnam Yoko Takebayashi, members of the management board of the project, and leaders of consortiums of contractors and consultants.

Work on the 19.7-kilometer-long metro line started in 2012. The line was estimated to cost VND43.7 trillion (US$1.8 billion).

The line is designed to have 17 trains, each consisting of three cars and able to run at up to 110 kilometers per hour above the ground and 80 kilometers per hour underground.

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