The Ho Chi Minh City Metro No. 1 project was originally scheduled to be completed by the end of this year and commercial development in July next year, but the project had to be delayed again due to disagreements with Japanese contractors. The Vietnamese side complained about this, believing that the Japanese side did not cooperate and caused the delay. The project is 96 years oldWith 53% of the volume, another extension will add additional time and costs. Metro Line 1 has a total length of 20 kilometers and is divided into 4 sections, and the problem is currently in the last lot CP3, which is in charge of the Hitachi Group. The Vietnamese side said that the work that needs to be completed by both parties is mainly to test and debug the system and personnel training, which are the work that the contractor should be responsible for without paying additional costs;The Japanese side believed that they only needed to work according to the contract, and said that personnel training and other things were not within their scope of responsibility, and if Vietnam asked them to be responsible, they would need to pay additional fees, which caused dissatisfaction on both sides. In order to complete the project as soon as possible, the Vietnamese side repeatedly asked for a meeting with the Japanese contractor, but the Japanese side has always refused to meet on the grounds that there is "no time". At present, Japanese contractors have bargaining chips, and as long as the Vietnamese side does not pay, they can continue to delay the construction period without bearing losses.
Since the planning of Metro Line 1 divides it into 4 sections, each of which is handled by a different Japanese contractor, Vietnam is also responsible for this. Although the length of the subway line is only 20 kilometers, Vietnam has to be divided into four sections and entrusted to different Japanese contractors. Since the start of construction in 2012, the Japanese side has spent 11 years to build on the grounds of the so-called "craftsmanship", and the labor cost is bound to be quite large. However, the Vietnamese side agreed to such conditions, and the Japanese contractors found a way to their advantage. In fact, the current approach of Japanese contractors is somewhat similar to what Russia is doing for $ 1 to India's soon-to-be-decommissioned aircraft carrier. In 1997, India purchased from Britain a light aircraft carrier "Hercules", which was about to be decommissioned. However, due to limited funds, India could not afford to develop its own aircraft carrier at that time, so it was desperate to buy a new one. At this critical moment, Russia took the initiative to come to the door and offered to sell the "Gorshkov" aircraft carrier to India for a friendship of $1. India happily thought that pie had fallen from the sky and immediately accepted the proposal of the Russian side. However, things are not simple, what the Russian side did not tell India is that there are many problems with the aircraft carrier "Gorshkov". In previous operations, there had been a ** accident in the boiler compartment of the aircraft carrier, which paralyzed the power system. The Russian side did not want to spend expensive money to repair it, so it chose to sell it to others. Therefore, after India bought the aircraft carrier, it had to pay for the repair before sailing the ship back to India. Although it was eventually purchased for $1**, the cost of repairs reached $900 million. There are many more similar things, and in the end, India spent almost $3 billion on the aircraft carrier. It can be said that Russia "sold" an old aircraft carrier that could not go to war to India for nearly $3 billion in cunning marketing tactics. Now it seems that the Japanese side may also want to use similar means to harvest Vietnamese interests. However, the Japanese side ignores the fact that, unlike India, Vietnam has China as a backer. Immediately after encountering the Japanese problem, Vietnam realized that it was too dependent on Japan and began to look for other partners, with China as the first choice. The day after Vietnam's disagreement with Japan was reported, Guangzhou Metro Group announced that it would sign a memorandum of cooperation with Vietnam's Ho Chi Minh City Metro Management Committee. According to the MoU, the Chinese side will share construction technology, talent training, and operational experience and solutions in the early planning stage of rail transit construction. From this news, it can be seen that what the Chinese side is providing is exactly what Japan has important to Vietnam. Although China is not directly involved in the construction of the subway technology, operational experience and personnel training are equally important for the smooth operation of the transportation network. Therefore, if the subway project in Ho Chi Minh City can be completed by the end of the year as originally planned, China should also have a place in it.
In addition to the subway project in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam also plans to carry out large-scale urban rail construction. It is currently planned to build 11 transport networks with a total length of 225 km, which will be completed by 2035. At the same time, Vietnam will work with China to study and formulate urban rail construction plans, and China will share construction technology, talent training experience, and operational experience and solutions in the pre-planning stage. It can be seen that Vietnam has learned its lesson this time and is no longer completely dependent on Japan and has sought cooperation with China.
In summary, Vietnam and Japan have disagreements over the subway construction project, resulting in delays. The Vietnamese side complained about the Japanese side's lack of cooperation, while the Japanese contractor argued that the Vietnamese side needed to pay additional fees. Although the Vietnamese segment has caused problems for Japanese contractors, the Japanese side is also trying to use a similar method to India's purchase of aircraft carriers to obtain more benefits. However, realizing that it was overly dependent on Japan, Vietnam began to seek cooperation from China. China will share its operational experience and talent training experience, and work with Vietnam on urban rail construction plans. Vietnam also plans to build a large-scale urban rail line and complete 11 transport networks with a total length of 225 kilometers by 2035. This cooperation will allow Vietnam to reduce its dependence on Japan and benefit from China's experience.