The Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro line – the first of its kind in Ho Chi Minh City is expected to start commercial operation in the fourth quarter of this year instead of July as planned previously, according to the metro line project investor - the Ho Chi Minh City’s Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR).
In its report sent to the municipal People's Committee, the investor said that this year, it plans to complete procedures for adjusting the project’s progress, complete the installation of the electromechanical system, continue to inspect and fix shortcomings and correct equipment and machinery during test runs to serve the system safety assessment and official operation.
The Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro line runs 19.7 km between District 1's Ben Thanh Market and Thu Duc City's Long Thanh Depot with three underground stations and 11 elevated stations. Work on the metro project started in 2012 and has gone through various delays . Its costs have risen to over 43.7 trillion VND (1.77 billion USD).