Work continues on the 19.1km metro line No 1 linking Ben Thanh Market with Suoi Tien Tourist Park in HCM City. The project is expected to be finished by 2020. — VNA/VNS Photo Hoang Hai

HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — The HCM City leadership has ordered the speedup of three major transport infrastructure projects that have been delayed.

Le Hoang Quan, chairman of the city People's Committee, was speaking with the project managers while visiting the construction sites of the metro line No 1 between Ben Thanh Market in District 1 and Suoi Tien Tourist Park in District 9, Ha Noi Highway expansion and the Tan Son Nhat – Binh Loi Road or the outer beltway over the weekend.

Saying the delays in those major works had affected HCM City's transportation and socio-economic development, he told them to make sure the works were completed on schedule.

He approved a request by the Management Authority of Urban Railways (MAUR) to bring the Tan Cang (Binh Thanh District) – Suoi Tien portion of the metro line into operation ahead of its 2020 deadline.

The widening of a 15km section of the Ha Noi Highway from Sai Gon Bridge to Dong Nai Bridge is scheduled for completion in mid-2016, and the outer beltway by April 30 next year.

Bui Xuan Cuong, the head of MAUR, told Quan that work on the 19.1km metro line No 1 linking Ben Thanh Market with Suoi Tien Tourist Park had been hindered because the tender for the construction of the underground section from Ben Thanh Market to the HCM City Opera House had been delayed due to changes in the Construction Law.

Changes to the locations of the ventilator and underground commercial centre had also delayed work by five months while MAUR had to get permission to move 18 trees on Ton Duc Thang Street (in District 1) to build a road to the construction site, he said.

Work was underway elsewhere and the 17km Tan Cang to Suoi Tien section could be completed by the end of 2018 – almost two years ahead of schedule — he said.

According to the contractor for the Ha Noi Highway expansion, though work on the 15.7km section had begun in April 2010, only 47 per cent had been completed.

An executive said moving out households affected by the project in Districts 2 and 9 and Binh Duong Province had been a major challenge.

The outer beltway work also faces site clearance issues, and only 91 per cent of the work has been completed so far though it began in 2008 and was scheduled for completion in 2012.

The HCM City Department of Transport has said difficulties include the relocation of underground works beneath the construction sites such as sewer systems.

Quan also ordered the department to reorganise traffic so that metro line No 1, on completion, could operate efficiently right from the outset. — VNS