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ADB funds mountainous infrastructure project
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is committed to a 1 million USD grant to help prepare a project to develop rural infrastructure facilities for northern mountainous provinces in Vietnam.
An agreement to this effect was signed in Hanoi on March 24 by representatives from the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) and the ADB.
The aid, which comes from a Japanese government special fund, will finance surveys on the relevant needs in 15 target provinces where ethnic minority groups compose half or more of the population.
The grant will also cover efforts to prepare financial reports for the development of the rural infrastructure.
The Vietnamese government is increasing investment into poverty reduction in the northern mountainous region, setting a target to double regional per-capita income by 2010.
Deputy Governor of the SBV Nguyen Van Binh said the aid is another signal of strong confidence by the ADB particularly and international donors generally, in Vietnam ’s economic growth potential.
ADB reported that the poverty rate in northern mountainous provinces is three times higher than the national average, which now stands at 15 percent. The problem is noticeably worse in ethnic minority communities, many of which are often prone to harsh weather and natural disasters.
The project aims to broaden access to other markets, make social services more accessible and improve the environment and social management for the target provinces, thus removing obstacles from developing production.
Donors say they expect their efforts to pay off by alleviating poverty in the region, and narrowing development gaps between rural and urban areas.
This is the third rural infrastructure project funded by the ADB, in association with other donors.
One of the two previous projects went to 23 poor provinces in the 1998-04 period, and the other to central provinces./.
Vietnamplus
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