Vietnam Joint Stock Bank for Industry and Trade (Vietinbank) will disburse $3 million worth of the World Bank loan to a project to upgrade urban transport in the northern port city of Haiphong. The sum is part of $167.5 million funds pledged by the World Bank to the $269-million project, the Thoi bao Ngan hang newspaper reported June 3. Haiphong city plans to start work on the project on the occasion of the 1000th year of Thang Long-Hanoi. The WB has funded $10.4 billion in soft loans for 93 programs and projects in Vietnam since 1993. The bank pledged $2.498 billion in official development assistance (ODA) for the country this year.
