Japan pours ODA into transport infrastructure

Japanese aid is likely to make a huge improvement in major infrastructure projects

Japanese official development assistance (ODA) will help in the construction of Hanoi’s belt road 3’s overpass section from Mai Dich to Phap Van thanks to Japanese International Co-operation Agency (JICA) low-cost loans this fiscal year. JICA evaluated the project in the middle of this year and agreed to the project’s draft loan agreement.  

The new road will stretch 5.3 kilometres, including a 4.9km overpass running from Mai Dich to the South Thang Long area, according to Ministry of Transport (MoT)’s Thang Long Project Management Unit (PMU) general director Vu Xuan Hoa.

The project’s consultancy unit - a consortium encompassing Oriental Consultants, Kei (Japan) and TEDI-Apeco (Vietnam) has proposed to build the second elevated section of Hanoi belt road 3.

The project will cost VND5.3 trillion ($254 million) with around VND3.7 trillion ($176 million) to be offset by Japanese ODA funds from JICA. The overall time scale for the project will run for 58 months, with construction accounting for 28 months, the consultancy unit predicted.

“The belt road 3, which copes with some of Hanoi’s largest volumes of traffic, will connect with a string of arterial highways as well as Noi Bai International Airport,” said Hoa.

The project to build a second terminal at Noi Bai International Airport was also included in the list of projects to benefit from JICA’s ODA funds.

The MoT has also short-listed the Ho Chi Minh City-Dau Giay motorway, Danang-Quang Ngai motorway and Lach Huyen port’s infrastructure in Haiphong for the second round of JICA funding this fiscal year.

“These large scale projects are all vital and will drastically improve inter-regional transport,” said Deputy Minister of Transport Truong Tan Vien.

According to the MoT, transport projects continues to benefit the most from Japanese ODA funds for Vietnam this year, with approximately JPY80 billion ($776 million) already earmarked.

By the end of 2013, the Japanese government would have assisted Vietnam’s transport sector finish and put into use 18 projects with the  total investment fund of $2.34 billion, with another 28 projects currently underway valued at $7.42 billion.

The Japanese government has also co-financed three other projects with other donors valued at around $4 billion.