Vinh urban sub-project at risk of having its capital cut by the World Bank

(Baonghean.vn) – On the morning of June 15, a working group of the World Bank (WB) led by Ms. Phan Thi Phuong Huyen - Urban expert, head of the working group, had a working session with the People's Committee of Nghe An province.

Attending the meeting on behalf of Nghe An province were comrade Nguyen Xuan Duong - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee; comrade Huynh Thanh Dien - Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee and other departments and Vinh city.

World Bank delegation works with Nghe An Provincial People's Committee

The regular meeting between the WB delegation and the People's Committee of Nghe An province aims to review the project progress, disbursement status and local counterpart funds.

The project is expected to be completed on December 30, 2017. Up to now, the total disbursed capital from the WB loan is 37.006 million USD, reaching 43% of the total project capital; the project implementation time is 70%; the counterpart capital has been provided 723/938 billion VND, of which the local budget (province and city) is 402 billion VND. The project has completed the selection of contractors and signed contracts for 8 consulting packages and 16 construction packages.

Comrade Nguyen Xuan Duong, Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, highly appreciated the attention of the WB and promised to direct departments, branches and cities to ensure the project's progress.

Ms. Phan Thi Phuong Huyen - Senior Expert of WB assessed the progress of Vinh urban project, warned about the progress

According to Vinh city's report, Vinh urban development project has basically cleared the land for phase 1 packages (including 6 packages), however, there are still some problems in Quan Bau resettlement area and Kenh Bac section 3 that are being handled. Regarding site clearance for phase 2 packages of the project (including 10 packages), site clearance is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2016.

Regarding counterpart capital: in 2016, there was a shortage of 293.4 billion VND, of which the remaining capital from the central budget of the project was 122 billion VND.

At the meeting, the WB delegation assessed the quality of the Phase 2 project as quite even, especially the drainage packages. However, there are still 8 packages stuck with site clearance and are behind schedule by about 22%. According to Ms. Phan Thi Phuong Huyen, by July 30, some projects need to be cleared and by September 30, 2016, if there is no site for all packages, the WB will decide not to continue disbursing.

Overview of the meeting.

Nghe An province highly appreciated the evaluation of the WB delegation on the Vinh sub-urban project and expressed its determination to the delegation to complete the site clearance of the projects to ensure the project progress as planned. The Provincial People's Committee, the City People's Committee and the Project Management Board are completing the procedures to request central funding, handling the remaining capital in 2016 and directing Vinh city and contractors to speed up the project progress.

Construction of the ancient citadel moat - a part of the Vinh urban sub-project.

Vinh urban sub-project is a key project in Nghe An province, the total investment of the project is 152.922 million USD, equivalent to 3,180 billion VND, of which the loan capital of WB is 98 million USD, the counterpart capital of Vietnam is 54.922 million USD.

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