Mekong Delta benefits from World Bank-funded transport project

Loans from the World Bank and the Australian government for the Mekong Delta transport infrastructure development project have helped cut transport costs and facilitated trade in the region, according to a Vietnamese transport official.

Director of the Management Board for Waterway Projects Le Huy Thang said the project improved main inland waterway corridors and trunk roads in the Mekong Delta, connecting poor and ethnic areas to economic hubs.

It also improved the key waterway between Ho Chi Minh City and provinces in the delta, and enhanced the capacity of transport management agencies on multimodal transport management, said Thang.

According to governments of beneficiary provinces, the project has helped boost their socio-economic development by reducing bottlenecks on key roads and waterways and lowering logistics costs from producing areas to the markets.

The Mekong Delta transport infrastructure development project was implemented from 2007 to 2016 with a total cost of US$555 million, including US$350 million from the International Development Association - a lending arm of the World Bank - US$45 million in Australian non-refundable aid and US$150 million from the Vietnamese government.

The project consists of four components in which components A, B and C were designed to upgrade highways and waterway corridors while component D offers consultancy services and technical support to the Ministry of Transport.

(Source: NDO)