HCM City asks TTI consortium to trim tramway cost

News - The HCM City government has just asked TTI consortium to reassess the investment capital of the first tramway project in the city, otherwise construction will not be allowed, said the head of the Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR) on Thursday.

“By now, the consortium hasn’t got enough conditions to start construction of the tramway this month as scheduled earlier because its financing plan for the project had not been agreed on by the city government,” Nguyen Do Luong told the Daily.

The consortium, grouping Thanh Danh Construction and Trading Co. Ltd, Malaysia-based Titanium Management Co. and Phu My Bridge BOT Co., had suggested total capital of some VND4.1 trillion for the tramway under the build-operate-transfer investment formula.

Considering this suggested investment capital too high, the city government has asked the consortium to redo the project’s financing plan with an aim to trim the final cost so that the city government could give its final approval, he said.

Luong said although the consortium had already won an investment license for the tramway, the permission could be revoked.

“In the coming time, if the negotiation for trimming the cost between the city and the consortium could not be finalised, the BOT contract for the project would not be signed, and then the investment license will also be cancelled,” he stressed.

Two months ago, MAUR had announced to kick off construction on the tramway in August.

The 12.2-kilometer tramway will start at Ben Thanh Market and go along the East-West Highway and the Ben Nghe-Tau Hu Canal to the Mien Tay Coach Station with six main stations and 17 stopovers. The project is expected to be completed in 2012.

To solve the increasing traffic congestion, the city government is calling investors for building six metro routes, one tramway system and two monorails in the city.

Related to the investment of the two monorails, Luong of MAUR also said that the Hanoi-based Dat Phuong Joint Stock Company was seeking the city government’s approval to develop a monorail under the BOT form.

Following the recent suggestion by Dat Phuong, MAUR is preparing all technical and financial procedures for the monorail project for submission to the city government.

Established in 2002, Dat Phuong Joint Stock Company is active in some areas such as traffic works, hydropower and irrigation, construction of infrastructure and urban areas, travel services, hotels and restaurants, according to the company’s website.