Duong Hong Thanh said the tram project would require investment from the private sector. The director continued by saying that the city would like to see trams running on routes in Ho Chi Minh City by next spring, but conceded this was unlikely to happen.
TTR Weekly reported the director as saying trams would help cut noise and air pollution. The plan is only in the pipeline and the Transport Bureau says it plans to liaise with tourism officials to assess where trams would be best utilised.
The bureau initially proposed they run on routes linking locations such as Ben Thanh Market and September 23 Park, Saigon Zoo and Lam Son Square. Duong Hong Thanh also stated that the city has not decided whether the trams should run on rail-lines or just on set routes.
Another decision to be made is what type of tram to use. Popular opinion says elongated electric golf-cart-style vehicles are perfect. These would be a larger version of the electric vehicles currently in use in the tourist districts of Hanoi and Danang.
Ho Chi Minh toys with idea of street trams
News in Asia
Officials in Ho Chi Minh City have put forward the idea of trams to relieve burgeoning traffic congestion in Vietnam’s most populated metropolis. Announcing news of the project, the Transport Bureau’s deputy director said the provisional plan called for tram routes to cover around eight kilometres of downtown streets.