Alpha King looks to develop elevated monorail in southern hub

Following its acquisition and development of a handful of luxury property projects in the downtown of Ho Chi Minh City, Alpha King is looking to expand into infrastructure construction. 

Early this year, the Hong Kong-based property developer set up Alpha King Industrial Development Company with headquarters in Ho Chi Minh City, as part of its preparation to venture into the monorail business in the country.

During an investment promotion conference held in Ho Chi Minh City last week, Harold Chen, vice chairman of Alpha King Industrial Development has indicated his company’s desire to invest in the elevated monorail transit system in the second city.

Chen said that Alpha King Industrial Development has partnered with Chinese-backed manufacturer of automobiles and battery-powered bicycle Build Your Dream Co., Ltd. (BYD), who has invested some $800 and contracted over 1,000 engineers in a five-year research and development project for elevated monorail system BYD Sky Rail.

Sky rail, as Chen noted, has advatanges over traditional railways, taking into account seven aspects including their characteristics, construction requirements, maximum slope, minimum turning radius, transport capacity, energy consumption and interference with other vehicles.

The construction cost for sky rail, in particular, is equivalent to merely a third of the overhead costs for traditional railways or subways, according to Chen.

The construction time is also shorter for sky rail, said Chen, adding that these two strengths alone can prove sky rail an ideal solution for Ho Chi Minh City’s urban development.

Sky rail also holds other advantages such as excellent terrain adaptability, minimum land occupation, high-energy efficiency and smart and safe monitoring and driving capability.

According to Chen, BYD has successfully developed a sky rail system in Yin Chuan, China.

He said the company is committed to working with financial institutions around the world to secure a solid financial backup for the development of the monorail system in Ho Chi Minh City and it expected to receive the consent from the municipal authority to proceed with such a plan.

In the list of 210 major projects being published to call for investment by the Ho Chi Minh City authority in 2019, there are five elevated transport projects worth approximately $6 billion in total investment funds.

The first route is projected to be a 9.5 kilometre railway, costing some $703 million, while the second is expected to have a length of 11.8 kilometres, crossing through istricts 10, 11 and Binh Chanh, with a total investment of 977 million.

Alpha King is currently working on a series of luxury condominium projects in the downtown of Ho Chi Minh City, including Alpha City and Centennial which are being marketed for $8,000 to $14,000 per square metre.