Today, thousands of selfie-enthusiast residents of Ho Chi Minh City packed into train carriages as the bustling center, notorious for its traffic jams, celebrated the launch of its inaugural metro line after years of waiting.
Massive queues overflowed from every station along the $1.7 billion line, stretching nearly 20 kilometers from the heart of the city. Women donned in traditional “ao dai,” soldiers in full uniform, and families with small children eagerly queued to board.
“I know the project is behind schedule, but I can’t help but feel incredibly honored and proud to be among the first passengers on this metro,” commented office employee Nguyen Nhu Huyen, capturing a selfie in her overcrowded carriage.
“Our city has finally reached a level akin to other major cities worldwide,” she expressed.
It has taken Vietnam’s commercial hub 17 years to achieve this milestone.
Primarily funded by Japanese government loans, the project was initially approved in 2007 with a projected cost of merely $668 million.
When construction commenced in 2012, officials promised the line would be operational within five years.
However, as delays accumulated, the number of cars and motorbikes surged in the city of 9 million, leading to severe congestion, increased pollution, and prolonged travel times.
The metro “addresses the escalating commuting demands of residents and aids in alleviating traffic jams and environmental degradation,” stated the city’s deputy mayor, Bui Xuan Cuong.
Cuong acknowledged that authorities faced “numerous challenges” to bring the project to fruition.
‘Annoying’ setbacks
State media cited slow fund distribution, unforeseen technical issues, staffing challenges, and the Covid-19 pandemic as reasons for the delays.
“The setbacks and budget overruns have been disheartening,” stated Professor Vu Minh Hoang at Fulbright University Vietnam, who cautioned that with only 14 station stops, the line’s impact on reducing congestion would be limited in the near term.
Nonetheless, he remarked, it represents a “significant milestone for the city’s urban planning.”
With valuable lessons learned, he noted that “the development of future lines will be progressively easier, quicker, and more economically feasible.”
Meanwhile, aboard the train, 84-year-old war hero Vu Thanh shared with AFP that he was thrilled to experience underground travel in a more cheerful context after spending three years battling American forces in the famed Cu Chi tunnels, an extensive subterranean network.
“This feels so different from the underground experiences during the war. It’s wonderfully bright and pleasant here,” he remarked.
Reflecting on the past delays, he added: “We constructed tunnels to evade our enemies long ago, so creating a tunnel for a train shouldn’t be that difficult.”
“At last, we’ve made it!”
