Ladies in conventional “ao dai” costume as they wait to board a prepare on the plateform at a metro station in Ho Chi Minh Metropolis on December 22, 2024. – 1000’s of selfie-taking Ho Chi Minh Metropolis residents crammed into prepare carriages on December 22, because the traffic-clogged enterprise hub celebrated the opening of its first-ever metro line after years of delays. (Photograph by Nhac NGUYEN / AFP)
Ho Chi Minh Metropolis, Vietnam — 1000’s of selfie-taking Ho Chi Minh Metropolis residents crammed into prepare carriages Sunday because the traffic-clogged enterprise hub celebrated the opening of its first-ever metro line after years of delays.
Big queues spilled out of each station alongside the $1.7 billion line that runs virtually 20 kilometers (12 miles) from town heart — with ladies in conventional “ao dai” costume, troopers in uniform and {couples} clutching younger kids ready excitedly to board.
“I do know it (the venture) is late, however I nonetheless really feel so very honored and proud to be among the many first on this metro,” stated workplace employee Nguyen Nhu Huyen after snatching a selfie in her jam-packed prepare automobile.
“Our metropolis is now on par with the opposite huge cities of the world,” she stated.
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It took 17 years for Vietnam’s industrial capital to achieve this level. The venture, funded largely by Japanese authorities loans, was first authorized in 2007 and slated to price simply $668 million.
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When development started in 2012, authorities promised the road can be up and operating in simply 5 years.
However as delays mounted, automobiles and motorbikes multiplied within the metropolis of 9 million folks, making the metropolis massively congested, more and more polluted and time-consuming to navigate.
The metro “meets the rising journey wants of residents and contributes to decreasing visitors congestion and environmental air pollution”, town’s deputy mayor Bui Xuan Cuong stated.
Cuong admitted authorities needed to overcome “numerous hurdles” to get the venture over the road.
Individuals are seen beneath the lotus-shaped skylight at Ben Thanh metro station in Ho Chi Minh Metropolis on December 22, 2024. – 1000’s of selfie-taking Ho Chi Minh Metropolis residents crammed into prepare carriages on December 22, because the traffic-clogged enterprise hub celebrated the opening of its first-ever metro line after years of delays. (Photograph by Nhac NGUYEN / AFP)
‘Irritating’ delays
In keeping with state media reviews, the metro was late due to “gradual capital disbursement, sudden technical issues, personnel difficulties and the Covid-19 pandemic”.
“The delays and price overruns have been irritating,” stated professor Vu Minh Hoang at Fulbright College Vietnam, who warned that with simply 14 station stops, the road’s “affect in assuaging visitors will likely be restricted within the brief run”.
Nonetheless, it’s nonetheless a “historic achievement for town’s city improvement”, he added.
With classes learnt, “the development of future traces will likely be more and more simpler, quicker, and extra cost-efficient”, Hoang informed AFP.
Again on the prepare, 84-year-old conflict veteran Vu Thanh informed AFP he was completely satisfied to expertise beneath floor in a extra constructive method after spending three years preventing American troops within the metropolis’s well-known Cu Chi tunnels, an infinite underground community.
“It feels so completely different from the underground expertise I had years in the past in the course of the conflict. It’s so vivid and good right here,” he stated.
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Reflecting on the delays, he added: “We constructed the tunnels to cover from our enemies prior to now, so constructing a tunnel for a prepare shouldn’t be that onerous,” he added.
“Lastly, we made it!”
