ADB Board of Directors has approved loans totaling 149 million USD to help improve basic infrastructure and promote inclusive and sustainable economic growth tin the north central coastal region of Vietnam (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) - The Asian Development Bank’s (ADB) Board of Directors has approvedloans totaling 149 million USD to help improve basic infrastructure and promoteinclusive and sustainable economic growth that will benefit over 1 millionpeople in four provinces in the north central coastal region of Vietnam.
ADB’s assistance for the Basic Infrastructure for InclusiveGrowth in the North Central Provinces Sector Project includes a regular loan of52 million USD and a concessional loan worth 97 million USD. Both loans will befinanced from the ordinary capital resources where most of ADB’s lending comefrom.
The total cost of the project is 203.52 million USD, with the Government of Vietnamcontributing 54.52 million USD.
According to Eric Sidgwick, ADB’s Country Director forVietnam, Vietnam has been one of the fastest growing economies in the worldsince 2010, with an annual growth average of about 6 percent as of 2015.
But growth has not been significantly reflected in rural areas, particularly inthe north central provinces, he noted.
“ADB’s assistance will help promote inclusive growth and bridge the developmentgap by integrating cities and the rural areas in the region,” he said.
Economic development in the project provinces, namely HaTinh, Nghe An, Quang Binh, and Quang Tri, has been constrained by thefragmented coverage of basic infrastructure, with the 2015 poverty ratereaching 13 percent compared to the 7 percent national average.
Moreover, the provinces are extremely vulnerable to natural disasters and arepredicted to have the country’s highest increase in annual mean temperature at1.7 percent and annual rainfall shooting up by 20 percent
To address these issues, the project will improveconnectivity among the provinces by upgrading and constructing about 214kilometers of climate-resilient provincial and district roads, which will benefitmore than 900,000 people.
It will boost business development through the construction and upgrading ofrural water supply, flood protection, irrigation, and port services, while improvingthe capacity of the provincial governments, particularly in public assetmanagement.
The project is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2023.-VNA
VNA
