The Government has asked the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for a loan of approximately US$1 billion to ensure capital supply for the Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien metro project, HCM City’s second metro line.

The Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien metro project in HCM City 

The new loan is expected to be approved by the Government and the ADB next year.

The HCM City People’s Committee, in consultation with the city’s Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR), is working with the Ministry of Finance on procedures for verifying re-lending conditions, which will serve as a foundation for talks on supplementary loans over the next year.

MAUR announced on August 25 that both new loans and the cancellation of a previous loan of US$390 million from the ADB had undergone thorough consideration by the municipal People’s Committee and the MAUR and been approved by the bank.

This will not affect project implementation, as the new loan covers the cancelled amount, MAUR explained, adding that it will also reduce financing costs.

The ADB also urged Vietnam to promptly abort the previous loan to balance out emergency assistance for other programmes and projects on mitigating the impact of COVID-19, as agreed by the bank and the Vietnamese Government.