WB adds US$ 156 mln to Mekong Delta transport project
(VOV) -The World Bank (WB) on January 30 approved an additional credit of US$156 million for an underway project to develop transport infrastructure in the Mekong Delta.
The additional credit will be used to improve waterway corridors and national roads that connect to the region’s economic hub - Ho Chi Minh City.
The Mekong Delta Transport Infrastructure Development Project, approved in May 2007 with the total investment of US$ 306.7 million, aims to reduce congestions at major traffic corridors in the region and improve poor people’s access to these roads.
Once the project is completed in 2015, it will reduce the time of transporting rice by barge from Rach Gia to Ho Chi Minh City to five hours and lorry travel time on National Road No. 91 by 10 percent.
As a result, fatalities caused by traffic accidents on National Road No. 91 are expected to drop by 15 percent while the number of accidents on local waterways will decrease by 5 percent.