Vietnam’s southern economic hub of Ho Chi Minh City has maintained effective use of official development assistance (ODA) from the Japanese government over the years. Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Le Hoang Quan made the statement at a working session with Hiroto Arakawa, Vice-President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) on August 27. Mr. Quan expressed his sincere appreciation for Japan’s ODA to Vietnam, particularly HCM City in a number of infrastructure projects such as an international terminal at Tan Son Nhat airport, the East-West Avenue and the Binh Hung waste water treatment plant. During the working session, the two sides reviewed the progress of ODA projects, funded by JICA, and discussed measures to speed up site clearance along the HCM City-Long Thanh-Dau Day Expressway as well as plans to perfect the urban railway system. Earlier, Tadashi Maeda, Senior Advisor of the Japan Cabinet said that Japan will provide more ODA for HCM City in the coming years. The Japanese government provided a total of $32.47 million in non-refundable loan for 434 development projects in Vietnam from 2009 when it resumed providing ODA for the Southeast Asian nation to end-2011. Japan has pledged a total of $23 billion in ODA for Vietnam since 1992. In Japanese fiscal year 2011, Japan provided JPY270 billion ($3.4 billion) of ODA to 16 projects in Vietnam, a record high. (vietnamplus.vn Aug 27, vovnews.vn Aug 28)
