WB to Provide $300M for Vietnam City Sustainable Development Project

The World Bank (WB) will provide a $300-million loan for Vietnam’s central Danang city to implement a sustainable development project between 2013 and 2018, the Vietnam News Agency said recently. The project will focus on the city’s public transport network development, environmental protection, infrastructure construction as well as legal improvements in transport and urban management. The city has completed a feasible study on the project’s first phase designed to develop bus rapid transit system which is Danang’s urgent need to help ease traffic jams and accidents.  The WB provided a total aid of $10.4 billion for 93 programs and projects in Vietnam by late February this year, and $6.7 billion of which was disbursed. The bank pledged $2.498 billion in official development assistance (ODA) for Vietnam this year and also announced to finance over $6 billion for the country to implement 44 programs and projects in the 2011-2013 fiscal years. (vietnamplus.vn Aug 6)