Hanoi's first urban railway project put eleven months behind schedule

By Dang Hoa - Dec 11, 2017 | 06:30 AM GMT+7

TheLEADERThe planned trial run of the Cat Linh-Ha Dong metro line, Hanoi's first urban railway project one more time does not meet its deadline and will be delayed until September 2018.

Hanoi's first urban railway project put eleven months behind schedule

According to a report of the Hanoi Metropolitan Railway Management Board (MRB) submitted to the Ministry of Transport (MoT), the trial run of the Cat Linh-Ha Dong urban railway project will be kicked off 11 months behind the schedule compared to the adjusted plan set by the Government and the MoT in February 2017.

Instead of the planned trial run set for October 2017, the Cat Linh-Ha Dong urban railway project is scheduled to run technical testing from September 2, 2018. After 3 - 6 months of the trial run, the project will be eligible for commercial exploitation from November 2018 if there is no problem.

Leaders of MRB said that the problem was due to difficulties in disbursement. Specifically, from early December 2016, the disbursement of the US$250 million preferential loans continually encountered obstacles due to the shortage of foreign capital planned for the project in 2016.

In addition, the management capacity of the general contractor is still limited and a lack of experience and qualified labors, leading to the delay of the project's design, construction, the procedure for acceptance of payment, and completion.

According to the initial plan, the Cat Linh-Ha Dong urban railway project would be implemented from November 2008 to November 2013, with a total investment of US$552.86 million. However, the groundbreaking ceremony of the project was delayed to April 2010, and in October 2011, it was officially deployed. In 2016, the investment capital of the project was adjusted to US$868 million.