The Ministry of Transport hosted a ceremony in Hanoi on June 6 to award a campaign medal to Fiona Louise Lappin, Head of the UK Department for International Development (DFID) in Vietnam for her contribution to Vietnam’s transport development.

During her term in office, Lappin has played an active role in encouraging the UK Government to provide non-refundable aid for Vietnam’s Third Rural Transport Project (TRTP) totalling 54 million USD.

She has also proven her ability to connect the UK Government with Vietnamese agencies and other sponsors, substantially contributing to bilateral transport cooperation development.

The TRTP has been implemented in 33 northern and central provinces and cities with the aim of boosting the sustainable maintenance of rural roads.

The project has upgraded about 2,100km of roads and completed the maintenance of 13,000km of district-level roads and bridges. It is expected to benefit up to 5 million people in the targeted provinces, including 14 mountainous localities.

Vietnam’s road network now includes 196,404km of rural roads, serving around 75 percent of the country’s population.-VNA