Projects a credit to Vietnam

Nguyen Xuan Tien

What projects will honour the preferred credit package?

MPI Minister Vo Hong Phuc and Japanese ambassador to Vietnam Yasuaki Tanizaki will ink the concessionary credit package diplomatic note worth 58.18 billion JPY (over $722 million) for the $932.4 million Ho Chi Minh City-Long Thanh-Dau Giay expressway using Japanese and Asian Development Bank official development assistance (ODA) sources and the $1.472 billion Danang-Quang Nam expressway using Japanese and World bank ODA sources and Vietnamese government reciprocal capital.

These expressways are part of the north-south highway. The loaning agreement will be inked by the Ministry of Finance and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on June 15, 2011.

Does the move mean the Japanese government will not curtail its ODA to Vietnam?

That is right. In the recent visit to Japan by Phuc, Japan stressed it would maintain its ODA to Vietnam despite facing some certain difficulties since Vietnam was an important partner in the region.

After the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, the Japanese government, via Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and the Japanese embassy in Vietnam, asserted to the Vietnamese government that it was strongly committed to maintaining bilateral aid undertakings to Vietnam.

Earlier in October 2010 during a Vietnam visit, Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan pledged to continue ODA support to Vietnam to help materialise big infrastructure projects, particularly the building of airports, wharves, expressways and the north-south highway.

Could you brief us on the projects in focus?

The Vietnam-Japan policy dialogue meeting in late May in Hanoi had finalised the list of new projects which would be financed by Japan in the new fiscal year, including the north-south highway Ben Luc-Long Thanh section, Hoa Lac hi-tech zone and central Thanh Hoa province’s Nghi Son power plant.

The Japanese side will probably send an expert group to Vietnam in the third quarter to evaluate fresh projects before taking any further steps.

Besides, Vietnam and Japan will embrace further negotiations for the signing of a diplomatic note on concessionary credit exchanges for Haiphong city’s Lach Huyen port’s infrastructure building in the near future.