The World Bank (WB) has funded $69.9 million to help Vietnam’s southern city of Can Tho upgrade its urban areas in 25-year official development assistance (ODA) loan with the annum interest of 2.5%, the state-run Vietnam News Agency reported. The Vietnamese government will provide $20.4 million worth of reciprocal capital for the project, which includes four components to improve infrastructure, lighting and hygiene systems; better water supply and drainage systems; build schools and medical stations; and boost management capacity for local authorities. The five-year project will benefit 45,000 local residents and provide better infrastructure and services for 479,000 others. This project is within the Mekong Delta Region – Urban Upgrading Planning (MDR-UUP) program aiming to improve living conditions of residents in six cities namely Can Tho city, My Tho city in Tien Giang province, Ca Mau in Ca Mau province, Cao Lanh in Dong Thap province, Rach Gia in Kien Giang province and Tra Vinh city in Tra Vinh province.The whole program costs $398 million, 74% of which is also funded by the World Bank. MDR-UUP is within Vietnam’s National Urban Upgrading Program (NUUP) by 2020, which is expected to serve directly around 276,000 residents in 110 areas of economic difficulties in six localities and roughly 1.6 million people in the region.Vietnam is facing many problems resulting from the rapid urbanization such as uncontrollable flows of migrants to big cities due to the concentration of socio-economic, political, educational and cultural institutions in urban areas. (Thoi Bao Kinh Te Viet Nam – Economic Times Nov 15 p3, Vietnamplus Nov 14).
