The first component of a technical assistance project to enhance irrigation management and quality of the Bac Hung Hai system in southeast of Hanoi was assessed at a seminar in the city on Nov. 11.

Speaking at the seminar, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Ngoc Thuat said that the purpose of the gathering is to finalise procedures for the signing on the project’s second component with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Feb. 2010.

The project got under way from November 2008, and must meet the criteria of donors in terms of project objectives and scale as well as cost and means of implementation, he said.

Meanwhile, an ADB representative said he hoped that solutions to existing shortcomings in the project would be identified so that a memorandum of understanding would be signed as soon as possible. This would ensure the project’s success and the impact of technical assistance, raising the quality of water-related services, and thus contributing to the sustainable management of water resources, he added.

The second component of the project is expected to be implemented over five years beginning mid 2010 at a cost of around 740,000 USD.

It is expected to increase the capacity of irrigation companies within the Bac Hung Hai system with new irrigation and drainage infrastructure.

One of the country’s largest and oldest irrigation system, Bac Hung Hai is expected to water around 28,000 ha of fields in the Red River Delta and rice output will be increased by 9 percent on each ha in 2015./.