ODA funds one third of road building costs

Almost 12 trillion VND (600 million USD) will be needed for road building next year, estimates the Transport Ministry's Roads Directorate.
Almost 12 trillion VND (600 million USD) will be needed for road building next year, estimates the Transport Ministry's Roads Directorate.

More than 3.7 trillion VND (188 million USD) would be drawn from Government bonds and more than 1.8 trillion VND (90 million USD) from official development assistance (ODA), said Deputy Transport Minister and Roads Directorate director Ngo Thinh Duc.

The focus - as this year - would be road maintenance.

"We will ask the Government to establish a fund for road maintenance to ensure a stable supply of capital for the work," he said.

The directorate has also proposed the installation of 23 standard weighing stations to protect roads from damage.

"The work will be expanded after the directorate completes two pilot weighing stations in northern-coastal Quang Ninh and southern Dong Nai provinces by the end of this year," said deputy minister Duc.

The directorate had completed 11 projects with total funds of 4.6 trillion VND (230 million USD) this year, he said.

As much as 2.7 trillion VND (135 million USD) had been spent on maintenance.

"Although it was the highest amount so far, it met only 60 percent of demand," the deputy minister said.

The cause had been four tropical lows and three bouts of heavy rain between September and November that destroyed more than 70 roads in the central provinces .

Flash-floods had also seriously damaged roads in both the central and highland provinces.

The deputy minister said the directorate would co-operate with relevant agencies in the use of the capital it was provided and seek the money from both domestic and international sources.

It would also seek capital via build-operate-transfer and build-transfer projects.

Projects such as the upgrading of Highway 1A linking central Thanh Hoa and Ha Tinh provinces and Highway 49A linking Hue City and its A Luoi highland district that could be completed in 2011 – 12 would be given priority.

"The increasing number of vehicles had seriously damaged both highways," said deputy minister Duc.

The directorate has 20 projects planned, if it can raise the necessary funds.


These include widening Highway 18 in northern Quang Ninh province and upgrading Highway 20 in central-highland Lam Dong province.

Directorate figures show that Vietnam 's road system extends more than 279,927km and includes 39,800 bridges./.

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