Gov't disburses over US$38.5 million for Cat Linh–Ha Dong railway project

A decision recently signed by Deputy Prime Minister Le Minh Khai stipulates the capital for the project is taken from the central budget mid-term public investment plan 2021-2025.

The capital for the project consists of more than VND223 billion (US$9.4 million) of domestic capital and nearly VND688 billion (US$29 million) of foreign capital.

The capital is disbursed for the part of the project that was already implemented and did not increase the total investment.

Khai ordered the Ministry of Transport to allocate the capital to relevant units following regulations.

The ministry needs to report the capital allocation to the Ministry of Planning and Investment as well as the Ministry of Finance in the first half of January 2023.

Then the ministries have to take responsibility for the accuracy of the content and data related to the capital, which will be reported to the Prime Minister and relevant agencies.

The Cat Linh–Ha Dong urban railway project is 13 km long, with a total initial investment in 2008 is VND8.76 trillion (equivalent to US$552.8 million at that time).

By 2017, the total investment capital increased to over VND18 trillion (about US$868 million then).

The project uses loans from the Chinese Government and domestic counterpart funds.

The line started running in November 2021. It was officially inaugurated on January 13 this year, the same day the line carried its one-millionth passenger.

Statistics at the end of November this year showed that the line has served about 7.3 million passengers, of which more than 10,000 people use monthly tickets after more than a year of official operation.

Since coming into operation, more than 66,580 trains have run, bringing in revenue of about VND53 billion (US$2.24 million).

Trains run every 10 minutes. One-way tickets cost from VND8,000-15,000 (US$0.35-0.65) for a trip and VND30,000 (US$1.26) for a day pass.

A monthly pass is priced at VND200,000 (US$8.4) with lower price schemes available for bulk purchases by companies or factories.

The Ministry of Transport has also asked the Ministry of Planning and Investment to report to the Government on the extension of the implementation time of the Cat Linh–Ha Dong urban railway project to November 6, 2023.

The Ministry of Transport said that although the line has been handed over and put into operation, the Engineering Procurement and Construction (EPC) general contractor and relevant units still have to continue performing the project's remaining tasks according to the provisions of the signed contract.

The tasks include procurement of spare parts and supplies, specialised equipment for the depot area; assessment of the system for signal items in the initial stage of operation, and completion of the tasks according to the notice No.107, dated November 5, 2021 of the State Inspection Council.

The extension of the project implementation time is also the basis for extending the implementation time of the EPC contract and as a basis for extending the implementation time of the bidding packages related to the EPC contract such as supervision consultancy and technical design consultation.