An elevated section of the city’s first metro line, Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien – PHOTO: LE ANH

The director of the HCMC Transport Department, Tran Quang Lam, is the president of the council, while one of his deputy directors, Nguyen Van Tam, serves as its standing vice president. Other members are representatives of the city’s relevant departments and district-level people’s committees.

Each member is responsible for appraising subjects within their expertise.

The local transport department has been tasked with offering feedback on transport and related issues and collecting the appraisal results of the projects for submission to the city government.

Also, this department will bear the primary responsibility for ensuring the progress, efficiency and quality of the projects.

The HCMC Department of Planning and Investment will make an assessment of the legality of the projects’ execution, the necessity of investment and the investment scale and other factors that ensure the feasibility and effectiveness of the projects, including investment procedures, capital sources, execution progress and the ability to mobilize capital.

Meanwhile, the HCMC Finance Department will present its views on the input factors for these projects, such as capital sources, financial indicators, the city’s on-lending conditions and loan repayment capability.

The HCMC Construction Department will appraise the construction works of the civil sector, light industry, building materials industry and technical infrastructure sector and will review the abilities of individuals and organizations associated with the projects.

Other municipal departments, such as information and telecommunications, industry and trade, science and technology, planning and architecture and natural resources and environment are responsible for issues related to their respective fields.

The people’s committees of the concerned districts will evaluate issues related to the feasibility of construction plans, land management, security and order, environmental impacts, compensation, site clearance and so on.

The HCMC Management Authority for Urban Railways will provide related paperwork and issue supplements and amendments to and explanations of issues faced by projects during the appraisal process.

In addition, the authority is expected to present solutions to oversee the progress, efficiency and quality of the projects, in line with prevailing regulations and the guidelines of project donors.

The Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien metro line, for which construction started in August 2012, stretches across 19.7 kilometers of land, mostly above ground, and connect the city center with its eastern districts and the outlying district of Di An in neighboring Binh Duong Province.

The funding for the metro line has been revised upward to over VND47.3 trillion (US$2.04 billion) from the initial sum of some VND17.3 trillion in 2009.

Also, the Ben Thanh-Tham Luong metro line, for which construction is slated to start in 2021, has seen its investment requirements rise to VND48.8 trillion from the original VND26 trillion. SGT

Le Anh