HANOI – Construction of a 12-kilometer urban railway project connecting central Hanoi with a developing area on the city’s outskirts has started, with Japanese know-how and yen loans likely to help the project progress.
Japan’s ambassador to Vietnam Naoki Ito said in a groundbreaking ceremony in Hanoi in early October that the railway line, which is expected to extend to Noi Bai International Airport in the future, is a symbol of bilateral cooperation.
The cost of the project, which includes a subway section, is estimated to total over 35 trillion dong ($1.3 billion), according to local media. Its construction was approved in 2009 using yen loans, but Vietnam suspended the plan.
The Vietnamese government officially decided in December last year to resume the project, reflecting the infrastructure development policy aspirations of Vietnamese leader To Lam, who assumed the post earlier in the year.
Following the decision, the Vietnamese government requested in February that Japan provide the loans, according to the Japanese government.
The project comes as Vietnam faces the need to develop public transportation centering on railways, as recent economic growth has led to motorcycle and automobile congestion and worsening air pollution.
However, another urban railway that started services in Ho Chi Minh last year, also developed using yen loans, has seen delays in payments to Japanese companies for construction costs, the Japanese government said.
AloJapan.com