Construction of this route will take place in two phases, with the first phase from Ben Thanh in District 1 to Tham Luong Bridge in District 12 covering 11.3 kilometers at a total cost of US$1.37 billion provided by three financing sources, namely, the European Investment Bank (EIB), the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the German Government via the German Development Bank KfW, and the rest from the HCMC government budget.

The City’s metro line No.2 will run through districts 1, 10, 12 and Tan Phu, where authorities are in the process to complete procedures for compensation, ground clearance and resettlement.

According to Mr. Nguyen Do Luong, head of the HCMC Urban Railway Management Board, the city will have six metro routes and three tramcar or monorail routes by 2020.

The metro routes include Line No. 3A from Ben Thanh market to Tan Kien in Binh Chanh District, and the 3B route from Cong Hoa crossroad in Tan Binh District to Hiep Binh Phuoc Ward in Thu Duc District.

Metro line No.4 will start from Nguyen Van Linh road in District 7 to Thanh Xuan Ward in District 12; route No.5 from Saigon Bridge in Binh Thanh District to Can Giuoc bus station in District 8; and the sixth line from Ba Queo T-junction in Tan Binh District to Phu Lam roundabout in District 6.

Construction of Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro route No.1 began in August.

On September 13, the President granted the third-class Labor Medal to Nguyen Do Luong, head of the HCMC Urban Railway Management Board and certificates of merit to individuals and organizations for their outstanding contributions to planning and building the City’s metro system for last five years.