Metro Line 2 in Ho Chi Minh City to Restart With New Consultant, Construction Expected by Year-End

The city’s Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR) recently approved a 12-month consultancy package covering the revised feasibility study, front-end engineering design (FEED), and tendering for key construction packages. The winning consortium consists of Guangzhou Metro Design & Research Institute (China), Southern Transport Design Consultancy JSC, Port and Marine Technical Design Consultancy JSC, and ARTELIA SAS, with a contract worth over 175 billion VND.

The consultants will be responsible for updating the feasibility study to reflect expanded project scope, adjusting funding sources from ODA loans to the city’s budget, refining technical designs, and assisting in tendering for main contractors. MAUR considers this a decisive package, critical for moving the project forward.

Metro Line 2 has faced setbacks since its original consultancy agreement was suspended in 2018, which delayed loan extensions, new financing, and bidding for core construction works. That contract was officially terminated in 2022. Following the shift to public investment, MAUR relaunched bidding to secure a new consultant and restart the stalled project.

Spanning more than 11 km with an investment of nearly 47.9 trillion VND, Metro Line 2 is designed to connect downtown Ben Thanh with the city’s northwestern gateway. Initially approved in 2010, the project has suffered repeated delays, with its completion date now extended to 2030.

This line will also be the first to apply special mechanisms for urban railway development in Ho Chi Minh City. Over the next decade, the city aims to construct an additional 355 km of metro lines. For now, only Metro Line 1, the nearly 20 km Ben Thanh–Suoi Tien route, is close to operation, scheduled to open at the end of 2024.