Ho Chi Minh City is finally opening the first metro for its 10 million residents.
The 19.7 kilometre metro line was green-lighted in 2007 with an initial cost estimate of about 17.4 trillion dong (about 684 million USD), but it eventually swelled to 43.7 trillion dong (about 1.72 billion USD).
The construction began in 2012 and received substantial financing aid from the Japanese government, according to the city’s transport department.
Obstacles included a funding shortage from the Vietnamese government that caused Japanese contractors to complain through the Japanese embassy in Vietnam, according to local media and government reports.
Source: Bangkok Post
