JICA president expects early completion of Ho Chi Minh City’s first metro line

President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Tanaka Akihiko, during a meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh in Tokyo on Monday, expressed his hope that the first metro line project in Ho Chi Minh City would soon be completed. The metro line project, which stretches from Ben Thanh Market in District 1 to Suoi Tien Theme Park in Thu Duc City, has been primarily financed through Japanese official development assistance (ODA). We will learn from our experience and conduct new-generation ODA projects faster and more effectively,” the Vietnamese prime minister said. Ho Chi Minh City’s first metro line, which is currently over 96 percent complete, will be put into commercial operation in July 2024, according to the Ho Chi Minh City Management Authority for Urban Railways, the project investor. Work on the 19.7-kilometer-long metro line started in 2012 at a total cost of VND43.7 trillion ($1.8 billion).