Nearly VND 1,700 billion restores consulting services for Metro No. 1

The decision approving the above estimate was signed by Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Phan Van Mai on April 6, after many steps of reviewing, supplementing, and appraising from the investor and specialized agencies. The Management Board of Urban Railways (MAUR – the investor) together with the parties making and verifying the estimate are responsible for the accuracy of the content and data in the submission file.

The Chairman of the City People’s Committee requested MAUR to urgently develop a plan and implement the next steps when the general consultation cost estimate of the metro line is approved, so that the project will not be affected by the progress. The investor also needs to bind the terms of the contract on the official payment value to the contractor, which will be based on the results of audits and settlements from specialized agencies. The above estimate will not serve as a basis for direct payment.

The incurred cost estimate is the basis for managing expenses Metro No. 1 in the implementation process. Therefore, city leaders require the investor based on the project’s technical requirements, scope of work, implementation situation, policy regime… to select contractors, negotiate and sign contracts. copper, acceptance, payment…

The city’s approval of the above estimate will be a condition for the investor and the NJPT consortium (consulting contractor for Metro No. 1) to sign. Contract Appendix No. 19 – the general consulting contract for the project after it has expired. This Appendix includes many important contents such as consulting; train driver, dispatcher, station chief; IT system installation…

Previously, since 2007, MAUR signed a contract with NJPT consortium to consult for Metro No. 1 project, worth more than 9 billion Japanese yen. The duration of this contract is 132 months, divided into 5 phases: basic design, preparation of bidding documents; Bidding; post-contract phase (design review, construction supervision); maintenance phase; maintenance consulting phase. The contract was signed based on the initial scheduled completion of the metro line in 2015.

The project then encountered many problems, had to adjust the completion time, leading to the general consulting contract arising many jobs, having to add contract appendices. MAUR is currently signed with the consortium NJPT 18 annexes. Up to contract number 19, from April 2017, the two sides have undergone more than 30 rounds of negotiations. The total costs incurred in this addendum are calculated based on the additional and agreed workload.

To maintain the job while waiting for the signing of Appendix 19, from 2018 the investor and the consulting consortium apply the memorandum of understanding, extending the work until October 2020. However, due to the lengthy process of waiting for the signing of Appendix 19, at the end of 2020, the NJPT consortium will stop training students to drive metro trains. Last July, this consortium also stop some services for project.

Metro No. 1 currently reaches more than 89% of the volume, is expected to commercially operate from the fourth quarter of next year. This is the first urban railway project of Ho Chi Minh City, with a total investment of more than 43,700 billion VND. The whole route is nearly 20 km long, from Ben Thanh station (District 1), to Long Binh depot (Thu Duc city), with three underground stations and 11 elevated stations.

Gia minh