Vietnam: Ho Chi Minh City Has Its Own Subway Too
The project was announced 17 years ago, since then costs have more than doubled
After various delays and significant cost overruns, the Ho Chi Minh City Metro opened on December 22, 2024. Vietnam’s economic capital and its 9 million people are hoping this can ease traffic that is depressing the metropolis.
The project was announced 17 years ago and cost $1.7 billion dollars (at the time of approval, the project was supposed to cost $668 million dollars, less than half). The line covers a 20-kilometer route across the metropolis, which is now, like major cities around the world, served by high-speed urban trains.
The work was mainly financed by Japan, explains Italian news agency AGI, which also reports the words of Ho Chi Minh City Deputy Mayor Bui Xuan: “The subway will meet residents’ growing travel needs and reduce congestion and pollution.” The construction of the subway was accompanied by “countless obstacles,” explained Bui Xuan. Announced in 2007, the work only started in 2012 and was supposed to be completed within 5 years, as the authorities claimed, but instead it took 12 years.
According to some analysts, the current 14 stops per subway line are too few for a city of 9 million people to provide significant relief from traffic and pollution. Vietnam, according to a report by Italian newspaper Avvenire, is the second most polluted country in the ASEAN region and the 22nd worst air quality country in the world.
