An elevated section of HCM City’s Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro line runs along the Hanoi Highway. (Source: VNA)HCM City(VNA) – Progress on the first metro line in Ho Chi Minh City continues, but atax dispute has left some necessary equipment languishing at port, Le NguyenMinh Quang, head of the HCM City Management Authority for Urban Railways told apress briefing recently.
The elevated sections of the Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro line from Ba Sonterminal to Long Binh maintenance depot will install tracks next month, Quangsaid, adding nearly 70 percent of the metro’s elevated sections have beencompleted.
He added that the installation of tracks would be carried out on the completedsections simultaneously with the building of the uncompleted ones.
Equipment used for metro track installation, however, is now “stuck” at port,he added.
He said that previously the Ministry of Finance had announced a zero percenttax rate on imported equipment and goods used for the construction of themetro, but recently it has reconsidered this tax policy, so a new shipment ofequipment remains in its port of entry.
“The HCM City People’s Committee has worked with the city’s Customs Departmentand the General Department of Customs to find a solution to the problem so thatthe construction schedule will stay on track,” he said.
According to Duong Huu Hoa, Director of the Metro Line 1 project, Japanesecontractors are working on the train for the city’s first metro line and willsend it to Vietnam by October next year for early testing.
He said he has sought the opinions of foreign experts on the construction ofthe Dien Bien Phu flyover, one of the five of its kind on the metro route, tominimize the impact on traffic.
The other four overpasses are being built above the Hanoi Highway, the SaigonRiver, the Rach Chiec Canal and Van Thanh Canal.
Regarding the shortage of ODA capital for the metro, Quang said last month thatthe city had to withdraw 500 billion VND (22 million USD) from its budget topay debts to contractors, but that this could not be considered a long-termsolution.
“This is just a temporary solution as in reality the city needs 500 billion-600billion VND a month to pay the contractors,” he said.
The city is looking forward to receiving ODA capital from the central budget inthe medium term from 2016 to 2020 to pay for consulting companies andcontractors this year, he said.
The Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro, whose construction began in August 2012, isvalued at 2.49 billion USD. The nearly 20-km metro is expected to beoperational in 2020.-VNA
VNA
