According to the Vietnamese Ministry of Transport, to date, only four experts from China Railway Sixth Group Co., the general contractor of Hanoi’s Cat Linh-Ha Dong metro project, are now in Vietnam with another 150 others still abroad.
Cat Linh-Ha Dong metro project
The Chinese staff were scheduled to enter Vietnam by late May, however, due to visa problems caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, they have not yet entered the country.
The Hanoi Metropolitan Railway Management Board said that the 150 remaining Chinese experts are expected to come to Vietnam through the Lao Cai - Ha Khou international border gate while the air routes between Vietnam and China have not yet been resumed.
Hanoi authorities have asked the Ministry of Public Security to provide visas for the Chinese.
After entering Vietnam, the Chinese experts will be quarantined for 14 days as regulated. They will then be able to work once they have met the health criteria.
It is still unclear when staff from the project’s France-based consulting firm Apave-Certifier-Tricc consortium (ACT) would return Vietnam.
Cat Linh-Ha Dong metro project was started in October 2011 with the total investment of more than VND18 trillion (USD782.6 million), using Chinese official development assistance.
Initially, the line was slated for completion by late 2017, but for some reasons, its official operation has continued being delayed.
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