PM approves additional funding for northern delta transport development

Specifically, an amount of US$110.8 million will be added to the project, with US$82.34 million in the WB’s International Development Association (IDA) loans and US$28.46 million in counterpart capital.

With that, the project will cost a total of US$320.88 million, including US$253.03 million in IDA loans and US$67.85 million in counterpart capital.

The additional funding is set to be used to dig a new canal connecting the Day River and the Ninh Co River in Nam Dinh province and build a lock for sea-river cargo vessels weighing from 2,000 DWT (full load) to 3,000 DWT (offloading) to travel from the Ninh Co River to the Day River and vice versa.

A Day-Ninh Co Bridge crossing the canal will be also constructed to ensure the uninterrupted traffic flow of the provincial road 490C between the two sides of the canal, alongside the rebuilding of the facilities to be removed for canal digging and those to create environmental landscape.

The additional loans will be implemented in two years since they are approved.

The PM has assigned the Transport Ministry to work with relevant agencies to finalize the project document, approve investment and implement the project, requesting the careful calculation concerning investment categories and cost reduction through bidding, ensuring the effective use of the loans.

The ministry prioritizes the allocation of counterpart capital for the project from the capital source distributed under the framework of its 2016-2020 medium-term investment plan.

The Northern Delta Transport Development Project is implemented in 15 northern delta cities and provinces, including Ha Noi, Hai Phong, Ha Nam,Ninh Binh, Nam Dinh, Thai Binh, Hung Yen, HaiDuong, Bac Ninh, Bac Giang, Vinh Phuc, Phu Tho,Tuyen Quang and Quang Ninh.

It will contribute to enhancing management capacity and upgrading infrastructure of the two major waterways in North Viet Nam: East-West (between Viet Tri city and Quang Ninh province) and North-South (between Ha Noi and the Lach Giang River); renovating the Ninh Co River outfall and the conjunction canal connecting the Day and Ninh Co Rivers; and building a network of modern ferries.