VietNam Business: Metro

Showing posts with label Metro. Show all posts

Monday, February 7, 2011

New Metro wholesale center starts up in Binh Dinh

Randy Guttery (R), managing director of Metro Cash & Carry Vietnam, and guests take a tour of the newly opened Metro wholesale center in Binh Dinh Province - Photo: Minh Thuan

HCMC - German-invested wholesale chain operator Metro Cash & Carry on Wednesday opened its eleventh outlet in the central province of Binh Dinh as it is keeping expanding its operations countrywide.

The US$14-million Metro Quy Nhon center, covering over three hectares in Ghenh Rang Ward, Quy Nhon City, is the company’s second on the central coast after the one in Danang City with a total area of 5,600 square meters.

The store stocks more than 25,000 food and non-food items and targets business customers in Binh Dinh Province and neighboring provinces in central Vietnam, according to the company.

Hotels, restaurants, caterers, service companies and offices are the target customer groups of Metro Cash & Carry Quy Nhon, the company said, adding the new center employs 400 people.

“Small and medium businesses play an important role in the emerging economies like Vietnam,” said Randy Guttery, managing director of Metro Cash & Carry Vietnam. “The progress of our business in Vietnam proves that the B2B (business-to-business) cash & carry wholesale concept of Metro is unique to the country’s economy and its business communities.”

Metro Cash & Carry opened its first outlet in Vietnam in 2002. Its current 11 wholesale centers are located in HCMC, Hanoi, Haiphong, Danang, Can Tho, Bien Hoa (Dong Nai), Long Xuyen (An Giang), and Quy Nhon (Binh Dinh). There are also two distribution platforms with one in Binh Duong and the other in Lam Dong.

One more wholesale center is under way in Binh Duong Province and it is slated for opening this year.

Thursday, December 30, 2010

City hires bidding consultant for second metro route

HCMC – The HCMC government has allowed the Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR) to hire a domestic firm as bidding consultant for the design and inspection package of the city’s second metro line project.

MAUR deputy head Nguyen Van Quoc said hiring a local enterprise would help the city reduce costs after the city had to revise capital for the first metro route. He was confident the job could be done well by local enterprises, he said.

The organization will advance money from its operation expenditure to cover hiring charges. Selection of the consultant would be completed within this year and the city would begin the package in early 2011.

Construction of the metro line, starting from the planned Ben Thanh Terminal in District 1 and ending in Tham Luong Depot in District 12, began in August at a total cost of VND23.6 trillion. It was funded by official development assistance (ODA) loans of the Asian Development Bank, the European Investment Bank, and German development bank KfW, as well as the government budget.

The 11.3 kilometer first phase will include a one-kilometer feeder line leading to the Tham Luong Depot, 9.3 kilometers of underground track and almost one kilometer of elevated track. The project will be implemented from 2011 to 2015 and start operating in 2016.

Friday, December 10, 2010

Work begins on city's first metro

HA NOI — Construction has kicked off on Ha Noi's first light metro line.

The US$1billion line will run from Nhon in Tu Liem District to Ha Noi's Railway Station in Hoan Kiem District. The metro line is the largest public transportation project that the city has ever undertaken.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung highlighted the project's importance during a speech at the groundbreaking ceremony on Saturday. He said the new metro line would aid the capital city's construction and development, while increasing the city's public transportation capacity and easing traffic congestion in the inner city.

He also urged the municipal authorities to join with relevant agencies to expedite other public transport projects.

The 12.5km Nhon-Ha Noi Railway Station section is part of metro route No3, which will be 20km in length. The pilot is one of five metro lines approved by the Prime Minister as part of the city transportation development plan that will be completed by 2020. Ha Noi would develop three more light metro routes in the future, said Ha Noi People's Committee Chairman Nguyen The Thao.

Thao said upon its completion, the metro line, which is expected to carry 300,000 passengers a day, would improve the city's public transport capacity and ease the heavy traffic congestion in the city's western area.

Unlocking the gridlock

The rapid increase in the number of two-wheeled and four-wheeled vehicles have seriously hampered the city's transportation infrastructure.

Traffic jams are common in the city's inner district, especially in the East-West corridor linking Nhon to the city centre, reports Ha Noi Moi (new Ha Noi) newspaper.

A tunnel boring machine (TBM) will be used to build the line's tunnel, which will mitigate the impacts of the project's construction.

There will be 12 stations along the line. Each four-carriage metro is capable of serving more than 900 passengers and will be able to travel at a maximum speed of 80 km per hour. Total travel time is expected to take about 20 minutes.

The metro line is slated to be operational by late 2015 and will be built with consultancy services from France's Systra - International Consulting Engineers for Rail and Urban Transport. — VNS

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Metro Cash & Carry opens wholesale center in An Giang

Visitors flood the new Metro Cash & Carry Vietnam wholesales center in An Giang Province - Photo: Quoc Hung

HCMC - German-invested wholesale chain operator Metro Cash & Carry opened a wholesales center in An Giang Province last week, the second wholesales store in the Mekong Delta by the group after the first one in Can Tho City.

The new center in Long Xuyen City brings to ten the number of its wholesale facilities nationwide, including three in HCMC.

The wholesale center Metro Cash & Carry Long Xuyen, located at 414 Tran Hung Dao Street, is developed at a cost of US$18 million and covers more than three hectares. It stocks over 25,000 product lines, both food and non-food items.

The center, which creates more than 400 new jobs, will also provide a positive stimulus for the consumer goods industry as up to 95% of the goods will be procured in Vietnam, according to the company.

Vuong Binh Thanh, vice chairman of An Giang Province, emphasized in a statement the importance of Metro’s business-to-business (B2B) wholesale to his province’s economy which is trade-and-service based.

“Not only being a big tax payer, a Metro center will also benefit both our local producers and our business holders by its huge and price competitive assortments. Every year, An Giang Province has around five million tourists that bring Metro big and stable sales opportunities,” he added.

Metro recognized the potential of the Mekong Delta region when it opened its first Cash & Carry wholesale market in Can Tho City in 2004. The Mekong Delta region has become the biggest fresh food supplier of Metro Cash & Carry wholesale system.

“Metro’s success in emerging economies like Vietnam has proved the uniqueness of Metro’s B2B self-service wholesale model. A Metro Cash & Carry wholesale center benefits the local economy and its community,” said Randy Guttery, managing director of Metro Cash & Carry Vietnam.

He added that “Metro Long Xuyen is new milestone of the cash & carry wholesale concept in Vietnam and is again emphasizing our Metro’s long term commitment to Vietnam.”

The company is developing two more new wholesaler centers, one in Binh Dinh Province’s Quy Nhon City and the other in Binh Duong Province for opening in this year.

At the grand opening ceremony, Metro Cast & Carry Vietnam also handed the province a Metro cheque worth nearly VND200 million to support buying health insurance for the province’s needy people.

Metro Cash & Carry opened its first wholesale center in Vietnam in 2002. On Friday the company is operating ten wholesale centers in HCMC, Hanoi, Haiphong, Danang, Can Tho, Bien Hoa - Dong Nai and Long Xuyen – An Giang and two distribution platforms in Binh Duong and Lam Dong.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Work begins on HCMC 2nd metro route

Construction of a technical maintenance station for Ho Chi Minh City’s metro No 2 began yesterday at Tham Luong in District 12.

The US$1.24 billion Ben Thanh Market – Tham Luong route is expected to be finished in 2016 to become the nation’s first modern mass transit system.

The 19-kilometer system will be funded by loans from German development bank KfW Bankengruppe, the Asian Development Bank, and the European Investment Bank.

Later the route will be expanded beyond the Saigon River to Thu Thiem in District 2 and at the other end to An Suong also in District 12.

It will pass through Districts 12, Tan Phu, Tan Binh, 1, 3, and 2.

The underground system will carry 40,000 passengers an hour, covering the route in around 25 minutes. Commuters will have to pay a flat fare of VND3000.

It will have 10 underground and one elevated stations that will be disabled-friendly.

Work on the route is expected to begin in the next two years using new underground construction technologies that will make it unnecessary to block roads above, Nguyen Van Quoc of the Ho Chi Minh City Management Authority for Urban Railways said (MAUR).

Since the average depth of the metro will be 18 meters -- and 34 meters at the deepest point -- it will not have any impact on buildings and skyscrapers along the route, he added.

The city, which has a population of eight million that could rise to over 10 million soon, plans to build six metro and two monorail routes and a tramway and has identified funding for almost all of them.

A 12.5-kilometer tram route from Bach Dang Pier in District 1 to Mien Tay Coach Station in Binh Tan District has been awarded to Thanh Danh Co and the Malaysia-based Titanium Management.

But city authorities appraised their bid and have asked them to scale down the amount of VND4.2 trillion ($215.7 million). As a result, work on the project cannot start this month as scheduled, Thoi Bao Kinh Te Sai Gon Online (The Saigon Economics Times Online) newspaper quoted Nguyen Do Luong, head of the MAUR, as saying.

If they fail to reach agreement, their license will be revoked, Luong said.

Thai, Chinese, and Czech investors are seeking approval to build metro Nos 3a, 3b, and 4. The Ministry of Construction-run Development Investment Construction Joint Stock Corp and Dat Phuong Joint Stock Co have bid for the monorail No 2 project.

Work begins on HCMC 2nd metro route