Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam and the second largest city, has a population of over 6 million. According to estimates, the number of people living in the city is expected to reach 8 million. The city’s mobility is dominated by private transport, with a share of 90%, while the inappropriate road infrastructure generates congestion on transport arteries at peak hours. In this context, an integrated public transport system with a capacity that meets mobility demands becomes essential and a rail public transport system is the best solutions for densely populated areas.
Hanoi authorities have adopted a Master Plan according to which a 4-line metro network w completed by 2030 is necessary. Public transport optimisation will facilitate connectivity and access to the city’s districts and will support the objective of Hanoi Urban Transport Master Plan (HUTMP) which aims at increasing public transport share to over 40%.
An underway project is Metro Line 3 which will create a better integration of the public transport system in 5 districts of Hanoi. The infrastructure required for improving accessibility to metro stations will also be developed within the project, multimodal stations with park and ride system will be built, connections to the bus network will be created and a public transport management system will be implemented. The project includes the construction of 12.5 km of double line from Nhon to Hanoi rail station, this being one of the priority lines of the transport development strategy that would be extended to 21 km by 2020 and 48 km by 2030.
The company selected to implement the project (Daelim Industrial Co. from South Korea) was announced in the first quarter of 2014. The company will execute the construction works for the first line section. The contract is worth USD 84 Million and includes the development of works for 8.5 km of suspended line, part of Line 3, and 4 km in the underground. Works were 10% finalized in December 2014 and four contracts of the total nine were signed. The other contracts should be attributed in the first quarter of the year. The total cost of the project amounts to EUR 1.2 Billion and is financed by Agence Française de Développement (AFD) with a loan of EUR 110 Million and a grant of EUR 50 Million, co-financing with the French Economy Ministry and the Emergency Financial Reserve (RPE), with the Global Environment French Financing with EUR 1.27 Million, the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the European Investment Bank (EIB). At the end of 2014, Minister for Planning and Investment Biu Quang Vinh and French Ambassador to Vietnam, Joel-Noel Poirier, signed a financial protocol through which RPE will provide an additional loan of EUR 85 Million for this project. Initially, France allocated EUR 250 Million. According to a document of ADB, the total cost of the credits supplied by the institutions involved is of USD 1.05 Billion (EUR 917 Million, according to the currency of February 2015).
New projects are in plan for 2016, including either the construction of new railways, or the extension of the existing ones which could be operational as of 2025.
AFD is financing this line via a EUR 110 Million loan and EUR 0.5 Million grant, co-financed with the French Ministry of the Economy and Finance’s Emerging Countries Reserve (RPE), Asian Development Bank (AsDB) and European Investment Bank (EIB). This project also benefits from a EUR 1.27 Million grant from the French Global Environment Facility (French GEF). The contracting authority – the municipal department, Hanoi Metropolitan Rail Transport Project Board (MRB) – has, for its part, called on the French group Systra for the engineering.
The total project cost is currently estimated at some EUR 1.2 Billion. This represents a cost overrun of EUR +460 Million compared to the feasibility study in 2009, meaning that additional donor funding has been requested. AFD is studying the possibility of an additional EUR 70 Million loan in this respect.
by Pamela Luică
Share on:
