Vietnam’s southern economic hub of Ho Chi Minh City has proposed the Ministry of Planning and Investment further support it in mobilizing official development assistance (ODA) for its infrastructure projects. HCM City wants to get support from the ministry in seeking ODA for Metro Route No. 5 and the Ben Thanh station, the municipal People’s Committee said. The city also expects the government will approve ODA loans for the second phase of an environment sanitation project, a green transport development project and sustainable urban transport project for Metro Route No. 2. Infrastructure development is the city’s top priority to ease traffic jams, which mainly resulted from fast population growth and the increasing number of motorbikes. HCM City, the most populous city in Vietnam, is estimated to need $39 billion for transport infrastructure development by 2020 but it can arrange only $500 million each year. The city collected VND107.66 trillion ($5.12 billion) for its budget in the first six months of this year, fulfilling 45% of the whole-year plan and accounting for 33% of the country’s total figure. (ndhmoney.vn Aug 15)
