The World Bank (WB) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) will help the Vietnamese Ministry of Transport in mechanism and policy research for the operations of Expressway Management Bureau which is planned to be launched soon. Under the ministry’s establishment plan, besides capital mobilization from both foreign and domestic firms, the Expressway Management Bureau will be responsible for the toll station construction and management as well as expressway maintenance. The bureau is also in charge of inspecting related issues in investment preparation, construction and operations highways, the Dau Tu newspaper reported Aug 13. 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. Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has approved a plan to invest a total of VND350 trillion to build 5,873 kilometers of expressways across the country by the end of 2020. This year, the WB pledged $2.49 billion in official development assistance (ODA) whist Japan committed to provide $1.64 billion in ODA for Vietnam this year. (Dau tu Aug 13 p2)
