VHM Consortium Mobilizes 10,000 Workers for US$4B Ben Thanh–Can Gio Metro

Overview

VinSpeed and the Vinhomes–SGC main contractor consortium announced on 30 October the expansion of simultaneous construction across the 54 km Ben Thanh–Can Gio high-speed rail metro, a project valued at close to US$4 billion. The consortium plans to deploy up to 10,000 workers and engineers at peak, with trial operations targeted for Q4 2028 and commercial service in 2029. The disclosure is directly relevant to Vinhomes (VHM) on HOSE, whose construction arm sits inside the contracting consortium, and to parent Vingroup (VIC).

Key Facts

• Project length: approximately 54 km, linking central Hồ Chí Minh City to Cần Giờ.
• Total investment: close to US$4 billion.
• Peak workforce: up to 10,000 workers, engineers and technical staff on site simultaneously.
• Timeline: completion and trial running in Q4 2028; commercial operation during 2029.
• Groundbreaking took place in December 2025; piling has already begun at the Cần Giờ main bridge, the Cần Giờ depot and special bridges including Dần Xây, An Nghĩa, Rạch Rán, Rạch Lá and Sông Chà.
• 1,300 precast prestressed concrete box girders to be produced across three casting yards over roughly 15 months, at 1–2 spans per day per yard.
• Equipment ordered includes 32 m girder formwork and 900-tonne transport and launching equipment.
• New work fronts include Bến Thành station, the Sài Gòn port area for TBM tunnel construction, and the Rạch Đĩa and Ông Đội special bridges.

What Happened

According to the project announcement dated 30 October, Công ty Cổ phần Đầu tư và Phát triển Đường sắt cao tốc VinSpeed, together with the Vinhomes–SGC contractor consortium, formally moved the Ben Thanh–Can Gio line into a new phase of expanded and accelerated construction. Earlier work since the December 2025 groundbreaking covered geological surveys, site clearance, access roads, bored piling at the Cần Giờ main bridge and depot, and several special crossings, along with three girder casting yards and a successful trial pour of the first girder segment at Yard No. 1.

The new phase adds work fronts at Bến Thành station, the Sài Gòn port area for the tunnel boring machine, the Rạch Đĩa and Ông Đội bridges, and the Cần Giờ bridge approach. To compress the schedule, the consortium is shifting toward industrialised construction and precast assembly, targeting 1,300 full-span box girders from three yards. The announcement did not disclose the contract value split between Vinhomes and SGC, nor the financing structure behind the near US$4 billion headline figure.

Market Context

VHM closed at VND 64,000 on 30 October 2026, up 3.06% on volume of 12.9 million shares, a firm session that coincided with the construction update. Parent VIC closed at VND 240,000, down 0.41% on 4.3 million shares. VHM trades on HOSE within the real estate sector, where large-cap developers have been sensitive to progress on affiliated infrastructure and to the pace of presale absorption at projects such as Vinhomes Cần Giờ, which sits at the terminus of the line.

Strategic Significance

The thesis for VHM here is not the construction margin but the land value. A 13-minute rail link from central Hồ Chí Minh City to Cần Giờ materially changes the addressable demand for Vinhomes’ vast land bank in the coastal district, converting a peripheral market into a commuter one. Execution risk is concentrated in the 2028–2029 window: the 1,300-girder precast programme and the TBM tunnel under the Sài Gòn port are the schedule-critical items, and any slippage defers the demand catalyst rather than removing it. For VIC, the project extends the group’s positioning as a builder of national infrastructure rather than purely a property developer.

What to Watch

• Quarterly construction progress disclosures from VinSpeed and the Vinhomes–SGC consortium, particularly girder output versus the 1–2 spans per day per yard target.
• TBM launch timing at the Sài Gòn port work front, the main schedule risk for the 2028 trial run.
• Vinhomes Cần Giờ sales launches and absorption rates as the rail timeline firms up.
• Any filing disclosing the contract value allocated to Vinhomes and SGC, and the project’s financing structure.
• VHM and VIC foreign-ownership and block-trade filings around large-cap index events.