Chinese giants line up for Ho Chi Minh City's 200 km metro expansion

China Pacific Construction Group has signed a deal to explore joining Ho Chi Minh City's metro expansion, the second Chinese giant in two weeks to eye a system built so far by Japan.

The company signed the memorandum with the city's Department of Construction on June 12. Under the deal, the two sides will study infrastructure planning, develop technical standards and codes, train personnel, transfer technology, and share investment information to identify suitable projects.

CPCG committed to prioritizing Vietnamese partners and using domestic goods and services on any projects it joins.

The interest reflects how steep the city's ambitions have become, and how the cast of builders is changing. Ho Chi Minh City's first line, the nearly 20 km Ben Thanh-Suoi Tien route, opened in December 2024 after what city officials described as 17 years of planning and 12 years of construction, financed largely by Japanese loans and built by Japanese contractors.

The city now aims to complete about 200 km of urban rail by 2030.

A train on Metro Line 1, Ho Chi Minh City's first metro line. Photo by VnExpress/Quynh Tran

CPCG is among the largest construction firms in the world. According to Fortune, it ranked 170th on the 2025 Global 500 with about US$75 billion in 2024 revenue, its 12th consecutive year on the list. The group traces its founding to 1986 but has operated under the Pacific Construction Group name only since 1995.

It builds and operates infrastructure under build-transfer, build-operate-transfer, and engineering-procurement-construction models. In Vietnam, it has already won contracts for and is helping build three major Hanoi projects: the Tu Lien Bridge, the Ngoc Hoi Bridge, and Metro Line 5 from Van Cao to Hoa Lac, all of which broke ground in 2025.

Founder Yan Jiehe has said Ho Chi Minh City has enormous infrastructure needs. The company wants to work under an "integrated" model in which it handles investment, construction, operation, and maintenance together, an approach it says controls quality from the start and keeps projects on schedule.

Another Chinese company, Guangzhou Metro Group, opened a representative office in Ho Chi Minh City on June 1 to coordinate consulting, design, and construction work on urban rail. The operator runs more than 1,500 km of metro carrying around 9.3 million riders a day, and it is already involved in the overall design and construction management of the city's Line 2 and a feasibility study for Line 4.

HCMC is prioritizing the Tham Luong-Ben Thanh-Thu Thiem-Long Thanh airport corridor to connects it with the upcoming Long Thanh International Airport in Dong Nai City. The Ben Thanh-Can Gio, Binh Duong New City-Suoi Tien, Tan Son Nhat-Phu Huu, and Thu Dau Mot-Tao Dan lines are also slated for completion in the same period.