Dong called on the city to put the project on fast track at a review meeting on HCMC’s mass rapid transit projects on July 16. The meeting was chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai.

Bui Xuan Cuong, director of the Management Authority for Urban Railways, told the meeting that site clearance of Metro Line No. 1 from Ben Thanh to Suoi Tien in District 9 was finished in late March. Work has started on three of five packages and tenders are under way for the remaining two.

According to Cuong, construction packages are being implemented on schedule and the elevated section from Suoi Tien to Saigon Bridge will be put into service sooner than others.

However, according to Dong, the Suoi Tien-Saigon Bridge section cannot be used if Package 1A for the underground track between Ben Thanh Market and the Opera House is behind schedule. Therefore, the city should streamline procedures and speed up construction so that the entire line can be put into service in 2020.

Hai told ministries and agencies to accelerate investment disbursements for the first metro line as capital has been disbursed slower than expected.

In addition to Metro Line No. 1, the second line is facing problems with design and cost adjustment.

The city government has to prepare the pre-feasibility study for both phases of Metro Line No. 2 to present it to the National Assembly this October.

Hai told the Ministry of Transport and HCMC to select technologies that can connect different metro lines supplied by different contractors.