Vietnam OKs $1.6B Foreign Loans for Southern Expressway Project

Vietnamese Prime Minster Nguyen Tan Dung has approved to borrow $1.61 billion from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for an expressway project in the south.  Dung assigned the Ministry of Transport to accelerate preparation works for the GMS Ben Luc-Long Thanh, which is among seven expressways in Ho Chi Minh City’s master transport plan by 2020.  The Southeast Asian country has 256,683 km, including 17,228 km of national highways and 8,492 km of urban roads. However, two thirds of the roads need upgrading now. Infrastructure development is among urgent tasks for Vietnam to improve its business climate. The country needs $16 billion for infrastructure transport projects a year; however, it can afford half of that figure. (www.chinhphu.vn)