WB-funded project improves inland waterway transport

The World Bank (WB) has agreed to grant US$170 million to a US$200-million project to develop the transport system in the Red River Delta.

The project will be implemented from 2009-1015, with the aim of improving the inland waterway transport system in northern Vietnam. It will help reduce transport costs and increase the quality of transport services through the upgrading of inland waterways and roads in goods production and distribution areas. It also aims to attract the participation of the private sector in developing the infrastructure of a number of provincial river ports.

The project will upgrade two waterways through a 280km corridor between Phu Tho and Quang Ninh provinces and a 250km western corridor linking Hanoi to the Lach Giang River in Nam Dinh province.

The project will also focus on training port and river officials. Under the country’s recently-amended overall plan for waterway transport development until 2020, more than VND40 trillion will be poured into infrastructure construction during the 2010-2020 period.

Vietnam has over 5,600 ports and wharfs, with 91 percent of these being used in cargo handling.

VOV

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