Police to look into theft at HCMC's 1st metro construction site

The HCMC Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR) said Wednesday that in May the contractor, a consortium of Japanese Sumitomo Corporation and Vietnam's Civil Engineering Construction Corporation No 6 (Cienco 6), had discovered the loss of the clamps out of the 20,200 to be used at an elevated section in Binh Thanh District. Clamps are used to keep rails in position.

The area from where the theft occurred restricts entry to authorized personnel.

But MAUR said that in the last six months some other contractors have been working there.

Besides the clamps, the contractor also recently reported the loss of cables from the Long Binh depot in Thu Duc City, which houses the control center and maintenance yard.

MAUR has instructed contractors to set up security cameras to ensure constant surveillance, especially at the depot and stations.

Last Saturday a contractor staff reported that at least two of the 17 trains that will ply on the route had been sprayed with graffiti.

The trains are already installed on the tracks and are awaiting the test run scheduled for August.

To cost over VND43.7 trillion (US$1.89 billion), the first metro will run 19.7 km between Ben Thanh Market in District 1 and Suoi Tien Theme Park in Thu Duc City.

It has three underground stations and 11 on the surface.

After being delayed for years the line is now more than 90 percent complete and the plan is to start commercial operation at the end of next year.