In a letter sent to the ministries of Finance and Planning-Investment, the city said it wants to access the ODA capital to complete work on its metro line No.1, which will run 19.7 km from Ben Thanh Market in District 1 to Suoi Tien theme park in Thu Duc City.

The city made the proposal after a previous loan agreement was closed because of a delay in determining the allocated value.

Previously, the allocated capital part of another loan agreement worth more than 8.6 billion yen had expired in November 2020 even before it was disbursed.

The main reason for the delay in disbursement was because related agencies had taken a long time to agree on the allocated value.

The Ministry of Finance wanted to calculate it in Japanese yen while the Ministry of Planning and Investment wanted to convert it into Vietnamese dong.

As of January 31, the government had disbursed more than VND10.34 trillion ($453.73) out of VND14.33 trillion of ODA funds allocated for the project.

Most of the VND43.7 trillion investment in metro line No.1 – VND38.2 trillion – is to be sourced from ODA and the rest is counterpart capital from the city’s budget.

The line with 14 stations, three underground and 11 on the surface, is more than 87 percent complete, officials have said.