Hanoi prepares funding for new metro section

The technical assistance project will cost $15 million, including $12.6 million of non-refundable aid from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and European Union, with the rest drawn from Vietnamese counterpart capital, Hanoi Metropolitan Railway Management Board (MRB) stated Monday.

The project will allow Hanoi to complete the pre-feasibility report for a new metro section that will run 8.7 kilometers underground to connect downtown Hanoi Railway Station with the southern Hoang Mai District.

Work on the section, estimated to cost VND40 trillion ($1.75 billion), is set to start next year.

The Hanoi Railway Station-Hoang Mai section is one of three parts of Hanoi’s 26-kilometer Metro Line 3. The other parts are the long-delayed Nhon-Hanoi Railway Station route, which is under construction, and Troi-Nhon section, where work is yet to begin.

Hanoi plans to have nine metro lines by 2030. So far, only one is up and running.

The Cat Linh-Ha Dong line, running from Cat Linh Station in downtown Dong Da District to Yen Nghia Station in south-west Ha Dong District, was opened to traffic last November after 10 years of construction and several delays.

The Nhon-Hanoi Railway Station section is now 74 percent complete and expected to start operation within this year.

It runs 12.5 kilometers from Nhon in Tay Tuu Ward, the western district of Nam Tu Liem, via Kim Ma Street to Hanoi Railway Station.