Ho Chi Minh City is about to invest nearly 100,000 billion VND in 2 elevated metro lines
The Ho Chi Minh City Urban Railway Management Board has proposed implementing two new metro projects with a huge total investment capital, aiming to connect Ho Chi Minh City with the old Binh Duong area.
The Management Board of Urban Railways of Ho Chi Minh City (MAUR) has just sent a document requesting the People's Committee of Ho Chi Minh City to assign tasks and arrange capital to carry out the preparation work for investment in two new elevated metro lines, connecting Ho Chi Minh City with the old Binh Duong area with a total investment capital of up to nearly 100,000 billion VND.
Urban railway line No. 1: Binh Duong New City - Suoi Tien
Metro Line 1 is 29.01km long, the entire route is elevated. The route starts from Binh Duong New City Central Station and ends at Suoi Tien Bus Station of Metro Line 1 (Ben Thanh - Suoi Tien). The route will share the Long Binh depot with Metro Line 1.
The route is expected to have 17 elevated stations, with a total investment of VND46,725 billion.
Regarding the implementation progress, on June 12, 2025, the People's Committee of the former Binh Duong province submitted to the Prime Minister the project's pre-feasibility study report. On June 22, the State Appraisal Council issued the official appraisal report.
On June 26, the Government Office issued Official Dispatch No. 5875/VPCP-CN conveying the direction of Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha, assigning the Ministry of Construction to authorize the Prime Minister to sign the Government's Submission to the National Assembly for consideration.
Urban railway line No. 2: Thu Dau Mot - Ho Chi Minh City
The 21.87km long urban railway line runs entirely on elevated tracks. The route starts at station S5 of urban railway line 1, in Phu My ward (former Thu Dau Mot city) and ends at Vinh Phu ward (former Thuan An city), where the route will connect to metro line 3 of Ho Chi Minh City in the former Hiep Binh Phuoc area.
The project is expected to have about 13 elevated stations, sharing a depot with Ho Chi Minh City Metro Line 3 in Hiep Binh Phuoc. This line has a total investment of about 53,000 billion VND.
On June 24, 2025, the People's Committee of Binh Duong province (before the merger) established an Internal Appraisal Council. On June 29, this council held a meeting and issued a report on the results of the internal appraisal of the project's pre-feasibility study report.
Advantages of the new legal framework
MAUR said that according to the revised Law on Public Investment in 2024 and Law No. 90/2025/QH15 dated June 25, 2025, local railway projects - especially metro projects following the public transport-oriented urban development model (TOD) - no longer have to carry out investment policy decision procedures, if they are included in the planning approved by competent authorities.
Along with that, the new Railway Law (No. 95/2025/QH15) effective from January 1, 2026 also officially classifies metro as a type of local railway, serving passenger transport in urban areas and surrounding areas.
According to Article 26 of this law, provincial People's Committees are empowered to decide on investment and adjust metro projects according to group A, helping localities to be more proactive in implementing new metro lines.
Based on the above, the Ho Chi Minh City Urban Railway Management Board proposed that the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee assign the task of organizing the implementation of investment preparation for the two metro projects to this unit.
At the same time, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Finance was assigned to advise on capital allocation in the medium-term public investment plan for the 2021-2025 period and the 2025 plan. In the immediate future, it is proposed that each route be allocated 10 billion VND to carry out steps such as surveying, preparing a feasibility study report, and assessing environmental impact.
These two new metro lines, when completed, will make an important contribution to connecting Ho Chi Minh City with neighboring areas, creating a synchronous and modern public transport network, meeting the increasing travel needs of people in the southern region.