France will provide a loan of EUR20 million to help Ho Chi Minh City achieve its socio-economic development objectives, meet the challenges of its urban growth and encourage measures to cope with climate change. The financing agreement is expected to be signed on May 5 between Vietnamese Finance Minister Vu Van Ninh, General Director of the French Development Agency (AFD) Dov Zerah, and French Ambassador Jean Francois Girault. The program, partially financed by AFD through Ho Chi Minh Finance and Investment Co. (HFIC) will used to build social housing and educational institutions and reinforcement of capacity and care of hospitals, and modernization of waste collection and management. The total cost of the program is estimated to EUR96 million. The AFD’s loan to the Vietnamese government covers about 20% of the costs. Co-financing is provided by public or private structures. In 2006, AFD was the first investor to support HFIC, granting an initial credit line of EUR30 million. This facility was designed for social housing, with 10,000 people benefiting from new, quality housing as well as education, health and environment projects. With this new finance agreement, the total accumulated net commitments of AFD for public official development assistance (ODA) in Vietnam will amount to about EUR1.05 billion. (Dau tu – Investment May 4 p2, dvt.vn May 1, www.qdnd.vn [1] Apr 30)
