Hanoi will operate its first metro line only when safety is ensured: Mayor

Hanoi will put the Cat Linh - Ha Dong metro line project, the first of its kind in Vietnam, into commercial operation only when the final acceptance is satisfactory and the quality of its system operation is ensured, local media quoted Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Nguyen Duc Chung as saying.

Chairman of the Hanoi People's Committee Nguyen Duc Chung speaks at the meeting with voters on June 19. Photo: Xuan Thanh

Speaking at a meeting with voters on June 19, Chung said that the Cat Linh - Ha Dong railway project is still pending a number of key tasks to be inaugurated such as the evaluation of safety and quality of the whole work. After the acceptance, the project will have a trial run for 20 days before being handed over to Hanoi for commercial operation.

The investor of the railway project is the Ministry of Transport and Hanoi is the beneficiary. Therefore, only when the project is evaluated for safety by the Ministry of Transport, the city government will put it into commercial operation, the mayor added.

He stressed that Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc had requested the relevant agencies to accelerate the project so that it can be put into operation in 2020.

The municipal government has established an urban railway company which is ready to take over the project, he informed.

Work on the Cat Linh-Ha Dong railway line, which covers around 13 km, running between Cat Linh street in Dong Da district in Hanoi downtown and Yen Nghia bus station in Ha Dong district, began in October 2011 and was originally planned for completion in 2013.

Project costs have more than doubled from the original VND8.8 trillion (US$553 million) to VND18 trillion (US$868 million), according to state auditors, applying the exchange rate at their respective timings.