WB to Grant $1.35M for Vietnam’s PPP Program in Infrastructure

The World Bank (WB) will grant $1.35 million to help Vietnam develop Public-Private Partnership (PPP) Program in infrastructure development. The loan was announced by the Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) at a seminar jointly held by the ministry and the World Bank in Hanoi on Tuesday, the Vietnam News Agency said. Of the sum, $850,000 will be used for Vietnam to build a market-oriented financing mechanism for the PPP program and the rest will be used to build an office. The World Bank Country Director in Vietnam, Victoria Kwakwa, said that the success of pilot PPP projects has attracted more the private sector’s investment in infrastructure construction. She added that the Vietnamese government and the WB have agreed that the implementation of PPP policy in 2010 will help to spur the private investment in infrastructure projects. Vietnam has invested $60 billion into infrastructure development projects since 2001, accounting for 8.4% of the country’s GDP and the rate is expected to make up 11% of the GDP in the 2010-2020 phase, analysts said.