Vietnam Ministry Seeks ADB, JICA Loans for Southern Expressway

The Vietnam’s Ministry of Transport (MoT) is seeking foreign capitals to build Trung Luong- My Thuan expressway in southern region in 2013, the Thoi Bao Kinh Te Saigon newspaper reported, citing an official. Duong Tuan Minh from Cuu Long Corp for Investment, Development and Project Management of Transport Infrastructure (Cuu Long CIPM) said that the MoT is calling for investment from Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Korea Development Bank (KDB). Minh also noted that borrowing from KDB is seem to be feasible than two sources because KDB has sent an offer to provide $400 million for the project. He; however, the loan need to be guaranteed by the government. Under the financial plans proposed the investor Cuu Long CIPM, in order to start the project on schedule in 2013, Vietnam is required to mobilize $10 million from Korea’s Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) and $950 million from KDB. Meanwhile, Cuu Long CIPM will mobilize VND2.295 trillion from toll collection on HCM City-Trung Luong expressway, bridges of Can Tho and My Thuan in 2012-2015 to contribute the project. Trung Luong-My Thuan was assigned the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam (BIDV) as an investor, but BIDV returned the project as it failed to mobilize capital for the project. Recently, the MoT assigned the Cuu Long CIPM to re-calculate total investment for the project and specific toll collection. The 54-km expressway is designed to have six lanes and allow vehicles to travel at 120 km/hour. Trung Luong-My Thuan is part of Trung Luong-My Thuan-Can Tho highway which is 82 kilometers long and has a total investment of $1.8 billion. (thesaigontimes.vn Apr 16)