Vietnam Hanoi to Add $459M to WB-funded Urban Transport Project

Authorities in Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi have approved to allocate additional VND9.66 trillion ($459.33 million) to a project on urban transport development, which is partly funded by the World Bank (WB).  The added amount will serve the operation of bus rapid transit (BRT) between the city’s center and Ha Dong district as well as the reinforcement of overpasses in the city’s central areas. This belongs to the project on developing the transport system throughout the capital city with initial investment of $304.72 million—of which $165.3 million came from the WB. The project is among many others aiming to improve Hanoi’s urban transport situation as it has been overloaded for a long time due to rapid urbanization and a huge influx of people into the city in search of better education, jobs and other services. (Kinh Te Vietnam & The Gioi Feb 26 p2)