Contacts: In Hanoi: Nguyen Hong Ngan Phone: (84-4) 934 6600 – 234 nnguyen5@worldbank.org In Washington: Elisabeth Mealey Phone: 1-202-458 4475 Email: emealey@worldbank.org WashingtonDC, June 26, 2007 – The World Bank’s Board of Directors have this week approved two International Development Association (IDA) credits for Vietnam: a Seventh Poverty Reduction Support Credit (PRSC 7) for US$ 150 million, and the Northern Delta Transport Development Project for US$ 170 million. Part of a series of annual operations, the PRSC 7 provides direct budget support to promote the Government’s implementation of the Social Economic Development Plan (SEDP) 2006-2010. The PRSC 7 was made in recognition of the country’s progress in business development, social inclusion, natural resources management and modern governance, which are also the four pillars of Vietnam’s SEDP 2006-2010. In business development: The credit endorses the Government’s establishment of consultation and information gathering mechanisms to identify the social and environmental impacts of WTO accession. The Government has also assessed the scope and nature of lending and other transactions among affiliated parties within Economic Groups and General Corporations. In financial sector reform, the Government has approved equitization plans allowing participation of strategic investors for two SOCBs and completed the equitization of one of them. It has also adopted market-based pricing systems to estimate the costs of state-funded civil engineering investments. In social inclusion, the PRSC 7 recognizes the Government’s efforts to revise tuition fees at secondary and tertiary levels, better reflecting market conditions, and enhance policies to protect the poor. At the same time, a health insurance law which better pools risks and allows improved incentives in payment to service providers has been submitted to the National Assembly for consideration. A voluntary pension program for farmers and informal sector has been introduced, allowing for support for the poor to participate in the program. And the Government has determined institutional responsibilities for the implementation of the Gender Equality Law and monitoring of gender equality. Regarding natural resources management, the guidelines for forest development based on participatory land-use planning and independent monitoring have been issued. At the same time, the institutional responsibilities for integrated river basin management have been made more clear. As for modern governance, the credit acknowledges the Government’s actions in establishing criteria for selecting public investment projects and mechanisms to monitor their financing and implementation. It also recognizes the issuance of regulations on content and timing of disclosure of audit reports of the State Audit of Vietnam, including audit reports of individual entities, as well as implementation of an asset declaration requirement for senior officials and their immediate families, with penalties for non-compliance. Subject to confirmation, the PRSC 7 is expected to receive further financial support from the Asian Development Bank, Australia, Canada, Denmark, the European Commission, France, Germany, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The development objective of the Northern Delta Transport Development Project is to enhance the efficiency, environmental sustainability and safety of transport infrastructure and services, through the alleviation of physical and institutional bottlenecks, in two major waterway corridors in Vietnam’s Northern Delta Region. Specifically, the project aims to reduce travel time along two major waterway corridors in northern Vietnam, reduce traffic accidents and fatalities associated with river crossings at ferry boat stages improved by the project, and reduce environmental pollution from the operations of river ports improved by the project. The project consists of three main components: multimodal transport corridor investments (US$ 147.1 million), investments in ferry boat stages (US$ 4.6 million), and institutional support to the Ministry of Transport, Vietnam Inland Waterway Administration, and the Provinces (US$ 5.1 million). The World Bank also envisages increasing its support to Vietnam over the coming three years. For more information on the projects, please go to the Projects and Program section, on www.worldbank.org/vn |
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