ADB loans support development programmes
(VOV) - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide US$251 million in loans to help Vietnam improve education quality, enhance power transmission network capacity, and strengthen flood and drought risk management and mitigation
The three loans agreements were signed in Hanoi on December 21 by Nguyen Van Binh, Governor of the State Bank of Vietnam, and Tomoyuki Kimura, ADB Country Director for Vietnam.
A US$90 million concessional loan from the ADB’s Asian Development Fund (ADF) for the Second Upper Secondary Education Development Project will focus on improving readiness of upper secondary school graduates for tertiary and vocational career development through enhancing upper secondary education quality to meet the international standards.
It also helps increase access and retention of disadvantaged groups with a special focus on girl and ethnic minority students coming from poor and near-poor households to upper secondary education, and strengthen planning and management of upper secondary education.
The US$110.19 million loan represents the second tranche of the US$730 million power transmission investment programme to Vietnam that ADB approved in December 2011. It supports partial implementation of the PDMP VII to meet the growing electricity demand of industrial, commercial and residential consumers throughout the country.
The project also helps improve the operational effectiveness and efficiency of the National Power Transmission Corporation. Agence Francaise de Developpment (AFD) will co-finance project 2 with an additional Euro75 million.
Flood and drought events often have severe impact on farming, food supply and infrastructure in Lower Mekong Basin. To support Vietnam’s efforts to improve flood and drought risk management and mitigation and reduce economic losses, ADB provides a loan of US$45 million and the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) provides a grant of US$5.9 million.
The project will pair infrastructure upgrades in Dong Thap and Tien Giang provinces with community-based disaster risk management and enhanced regional forecasting to improve flood and drought preparedness, development of design criteria for flood and drought mitigation measures in the Mekong Delta and assessment of transboundary flood management options.
The project is part of the Greater Mekong Subregion Flood and Drought Risk Management and Mitigation project which also supports activities in Cambodia and Laos.