Governorof the State Bank of Việt Nam Nguyễn Văn Giàu and Asian DevelopmentBank President Haruhiko Kuroda on May 5 in Hà Nội signed a US $1.38billion financial assistance deal.
Accordingly, the ADB grants Việt Nam that credit to help the country improve access to clean water, preserve forests and ease urban gridlock.
The first loan worth around US $1 billion from the ADB will help improve clean water access for three million households in Việt Nam’s cities, of which half a million poor families will receive piped water for the first time.
Addressing the signing ceremony, ADB President Kuroda said that the ADB’s assistance will help ensure access to clean water, improve living standards of city dwellers, and preserve biologically diverse forests for future generations.
Another loan of US $30 million from the ADB’s concessional Asian Development Fund will further strengthen trans-national cooperation in protecting biologically diverse forests in Việt Nam’s central region, which consists of Quảng Trị, Thừa Thiên-Huế, and Quảng Nam provinces.
The rest loan worth US $350 million is part of a total US $636 million assistance package. The money will be invested in a US $1.6 billion-project to building a modern expressway in Hồ Chí Minh City.
According to the ADB, the city’s population is expected to increase by half in 2025. The 57-kilometer expressway connecting Bến Lức and Long Thành will help reduce traffic congestion in the city by allowing vehicles to travel from east to west bypassing the city center.
Once coming into operation in 2017, the expressway will ease travel time by 80% and reduce the number of traffic accidents by 10%./.