The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) has assigned Vietnam Technological and Commercial Joint Stock Bank (Techcombank) to serve a sustainable urban transport project for Metro Route No. 2 in Ho Chi Minh City funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Techcombank will manage and oversee the funding under two agreements signed between Vietnam and ADB representatives on July 18, 2014, the SBV said on its website, giving no more details. The Ben Thanh-Tham Luong metro route has an initial cost of $1.3 billion, of which $540 million comes from the ADB, $313 million from the KfW and $195 million from the European Investment Bank (EIB). The cost of the metro route was likely to jump 60% to $2.1 billion due to price fluctuations. The construction of the 20-kilometer metro route that will start from the Thu Thiem Area in District 2 and end at the Tay Ninh Bus Station is slated for completion in 2018 but it may be one year late. The project will be divided into two phases. The first one will cover the section from Ben Thanh Market to Tham Luong and the second will cover two sections from Ben Thanh to Thu Thiem and Tham Luong to the Tay Ninh Bus Station. (sbv.gov.vn Oct 14, Dau Thau – Bidding Oct 16 p3, Lao Dong - Labor Oct 16)
