Siemens eyes Vietnam metro railway contract
HANOI - German
industrial giant Siemens AG
said on Friday it was
eyeing a major contract in building
Vietnam's first underground metro
railway network.
The metro system is to be built in Ho
Chi Minh City, the Southeast Asian
country's sprawling business hub and
home to over five million inhabitants.
The city is due to build 20 km of track
across the city, involving an outlay of
around $600 million to $800 million,
according to a recent joint
Vietnam-German survey.
"We have signed a memorandum of
understanding with Vietnam expressing
Siemens's interests in the project," an
executive from Siemens Vietnam in
Hanoi said.
The memorandum was signed by
Siemens Chief Executive Heinrich von
Pierer and Ho Chi Minh City's Chairman
Le Thanh Hai in Hanoi late on Thursday
during a visit by German Chancellor
Gerhard Schroeder.
It is unclear what stake Siemens would
have in the project but officials said
more details would be available in
August.
Vietnamese media quoted German
Federal Minister of Economics and
Labour Wolfgang Clement, who
accompanied Shroeder, as saying
Germany would provide around 600
million euro ($680 million) in aid for the
project.
The building of the metro network is
part of Ho Chi Minh City's bid to improve
its infrastructure to attract more foreign
investments and ease its chronic congestion problems.
Reuters - May 16, 2003.
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