The Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee has decided to set up a taskforce on facilitating the construction of urban railway projects.

The taskforce will be led by Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Phan Van Mai.

As planned, the urban railway network in the city will consist of eight MRT routes and three light rail transit (LRT) routes with a total length of 220 km. Investment is estimated at over $25 billion.

The Politburo has set a target for the city to complete the network by 2035.

However, it has been able to implement only two MRT routes, including Metro Line No. 1 connecting Ben Thanh with Suoi Tien, which is scheduled for completion by the end of this year, and Metro Line No. 2 connecting Ben Thanh with Tham Luong, which is expected to be completed by 2032.

Other metro lines are completing procedures for investment approval or are seeking investors.

It will therefore be a major challenge for the city to complete the development of the urban railway network by 2035 as scheduled, according to the city’s Urban Railway Management Board.