September 30, 2008

ADB to provide assistance to link Vietnam to China's Yunnan

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide US$1.1 billion in loans to help Vietnam upgrade the Noi Bai-Lao Cai section of the Kunming-Hai Phong transport corridor.

An agreement on the biggest single project financing in the history of the ADB was signed in Hanoi on Friday, 26 September 2008 between the bank and the Vietnamese government.

The 244-km highway is an integral section of the eastern link of the Great Mekong Subregion (GMS) Northern Economic Corridor, which connects Kunming city in China's Yunnan province with Hanoi and the ports of Hai Phong and Cai Lan in Vietnam.

It will help reduce the volume of traffic passing through the cities and towns along the roads.

Addressing the signing ceremony, the Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam Nguyen Van Giau stressed that the highway, which is expected to be completed in 2012, will help reduce travel time between Hanoi and Lao Cai from eight hours to just three hours, accelerating trade and transport between Kunming and Hai Phong port.

According to the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Bui Ba Bong, the ADB will also provide US$95 million to help Vietnam implement a project improving farm produce quality and developing biogas production.

At a seminar on the project, held in Hanoi on Friday, September 26 2008, Bong said Vietnam will contribute US$14.8 million to the 2009-2013 project, which will be established in 16 cities and provinces.