The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development held a meeting in Hanoi on May 3 to implement the 2012 plan for a sustainable rural infrastructure development project for 15 northern mountainous provinces.

After nearly one year of implementation, capital is the biggest impediment when many provinces have put in an estimate for subproject expenditure far exceeding initial estimates, according to participants.

Three subprojects in Dien Bien province were initially allocated a sum of 7.2 million USD, however, the real amount required is about 14 million USD, Vice Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee Hoang Van Nhan said.

According to Ta Van Long, Vice Chairman of Yen Bai provincial People’s Committee, the scale of the subprojects is unchanged, but the increase in market prices and labour costs pushed up the real expenditure. He also suggested reducing the number of subprojects to balance expenses.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Hoang Van Thang said to remove the obstacles, the ministry will work with ADB, the project’s sponsor, to seek suitable outcomes.

The beneficiary provinces asked the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to provide an
additional 58 billion VND of corresponding capital for the provinces.

According the ministry, the project is being implementing in Bac Giang, Bac
Can, Cao Bang, Dien Bien, Ha Giang, Hoa Binh, Lai Chau, Lang Son, Lao Cai, Phu
Tho, Son La, Thai Nguyen, Tuyen Quang, Vinh Phuc and Yen Bai provinces.

It will be carried out from 2011-2016 at a cost of 138 million USD with 108 million USD
funded by the ADB.

The project includes two components, focusing on upgrading and improving rural roads, irrigation systems, clean water and environmental hygiene works as well as improving management capacity of rural infrastructure.-VNA