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The Asian Development Bank (ADB) will provide Vietnam a US$51 million loan to help repair and improve infrastructure that was damaged by typhoons and storms in 2005.
The two sides signed an agreement for the purpose in Hanoi Thursday, along with two other agreements for a $60 million loan to fight poverty and forest loss and degradation.
The same day ADB also announced a Japan-funded $1.5 million grant to help expand learning opportunities for ethnic minority youths in Vietnam.
Successive, intense tropical storms swept through the country in 2005, breaching sea dikes and causing extensive damage to rural infrastructure, estimated at $365 million.
“Without a concerted effort to accelerate the work, the [Vietnamese] government would face a delay of 4-5 years in reconstruction, leaving the affected areas extremely vulnerable as succeeding storms can compound the existing damage,” Ayumi Konishi, Country Director of the bank’s Vietnam Resident Mission, said.
The project covers 10 of the most affected provinces in the country – Ha Giang, Ha Tinh, Nam Dinh, Nghe An, Phu Tho, Phu Yen, Quang Binh, Quang Tri, Thanh Hoa, and Yen Bai.
It is expected to help about 450,000 people resume their normal lives by rebuilding essential infrastructure like roads, flood protection, water supply, and irrigation systems, and social infrastructure such as schools.
It will also help increase disaster preparedness and mitigation by providing enhanced storm and flood protection, and mainstreaming prevention and preparedness activities into the development process.
The loan will cover 85 percent of the project’s estimated cost of $59.9 million.
Interest on the 40-year loan will be 1 percent per annum, with repayment of principal at 2 percent a year for the first 10 years after a grace period and 4 percent a year thereafter.
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