The Metro Rail Revolution: Line 1 – A New Transportation Era for Ho Chi Minh City in 2023

On August 1st, the People’s Committee of Ho Chi Minh City held its regular meeting to discuss the socio-economic situation in July 2024.

According to a report by the City’s Statistics Office on the progress of key projects, initiatives across the city are being expedited to accelerate their operationalization. These include:

The Metro Line 1 (Ben Thanh – Suoi Tien) project has completed over 98% of its workload. It is expected that the parking lots will be finished by August 2024, and the 9 pedestrian bridges will be completed by September 2024. The Metro Line 1 project will be operational by 2024.

For the Metro Line 2 (Ben Thanh – Tham Luong) project, the procedures for issuing compensation decisions for 584 out of 586 cases, or 99.6%, have been basically completed. Contractors are working on the first items related to the relocation and re-establishment of water supply and drainage, signage, lighting, and traffic signals.

The Component 1 of the Ring Road 3 project is divided into 14 construction packages, 10 of which are main construction packages that have been tendered and are currently being implemented. Component 2 is expediting the progress of compensation. Currently, 99% of the land has been handed over, with 1,675 out of 1,692 cases already handed over.

The National Highway 50 Expansion project consists of 7 construction packages. Four of these packages involve the construction of parallel roads to National Highway 50 and are expected to be completed by 2024. The remaining three packages involve the expansion of the existing National Highway 50 and are projected to be finished by 2025.

For the Tham Luong – Ben Cat – Rach Nuoc Len Canal Improvement project, 9 out of 10 construction packages are being implemented with the trial construction of steel-reinforced concrete piles. The 10th package is in the process of compensation, support, and resettlement for residents (with 123 households in District 12 and 43 households in Go Vap District).

Le Thi Huynh Mai, Director of the Department of Planning and Investment, stated that the city’s total estimated balanced revenue for the state budget in the first seven months of the year reached VND 308,724 billion, accounting for 63.9% of the estimate and a 14% increase compared to the same period last year.

Specifically, domestic revenue was estimated at VND 226,927 billion, equivalent to 68.0% of the estimate and reflecting a 23.9% increase compared to the previous year.

Total local budget expenditure (excluding temporary advance) was estimated at VND 40,823 billion, reaching 27.2% of the estimate and representing a 10.5% decrease compared to the same period.

In the first seven months of the year, the city granted licenses to 29,991 newly established enterprises with a registered capital of VND 245,096 billion, an increase of 8.4% in the number of licenses. Nearly half of these companies are in the field of commerce (trading, goods, and services), with an estimated increase of 20% compared to the same period in 2023.

In July 2024, industrial production in the city continued its recovery momentum across all three indices: industrial production of the whole industry (IIP) increased by 9.6%, the consumption index of the processing and manufacturing industry increased by 13.4%, and the inventory index decreased by 17.8%. As a result, the industrial production index for the first seven months of 2024 rose by 6.2% compared to the same period last year.

Thanks to policies promoting consumption and tourism stimulation, the city has attracted residents to participate in shopping activities. As a result, the total retail sales of goods and service revenue in July are estimated to have increased by 4.3% compared to the previous month and by 10.6% over the same period.

Overall, for the first seven months of the year, the total retail sales of goods and service consumption revenue increased by 10.3% compared to the same period, with a notable 65.7% rise in tourism revenue.