Spain to fund expansion of HCMC metro

VietNamNet Bridge - Spain will provide up to US$700 million to help finance the expansion of the planned metro in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, it was announced Tuesday.

Under a memorandum of understanding signed by Spain’s Industry Minister Miguel Sebastian and Vietnam’s Deputy Prime

Minister Pham Gia Khiem, the funds will be provided “once viability studies are complete and reliable budget estimates are available.”

Spain has also agreed to provide $95 million to finance three water treatment plants in Vietnam.

“Spain has companies which are world leaders in these sectors which could opt to carry out these projects and demonstrate their capacity to build this infrastructure,” the statement said.

Officials in Ho Chi Minh City are building a rapid transit network that is to have six metro lines and three monorails by 2020 with a total length of more than 100 kilometers (60 miles) as part of attempts to tackle increasing traffic congestion.

In April a Spanish company, Idom Ingenieria Consultoria, signed a contract to prepare feasibility studies for two of the planned lines.

The metro deal came during a visit to Spain by Vietnam’s President Nguyen Minh Triet that began on Monday.

His visit is part of a 10-day European tour that began in Italy and included an audience with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican, before visiting Slovakia.

“Vietnam is ready to boost relations with the Vatican on the basis of respecting fundamental principles of international law, thus making an active contribution to peace, cooperation and development the world over,” Triet was quoted as saying by Vietnam News Agency.

The Vatican called Friday’s meeting in Rome between Triet and the Pontiff a “significant stage in the progress of bilateral relations” and expressed its pleasure at the visit.

It said in a communiqué that it hoped “outstanding questions may be resolved as soon as possible.”

Vietnam has Southeast Asia’s largest Roman Catholic community after the Philippines – about six million in a population of 86 million.

Early this year a senior Vatican official held the first formal meetings with Vietnamese authorities in Hanoi to discuss diplomatic ties.

VietNamNet/Thanh Nien