KOICA to Fund $9M for Irrigation Info System on Ma River in Central Vietnam

The Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) will fund $9 million for an irrigation information management system on Ma River in Vietnam’s central province of Thanh Hoa in 2020-2024, local media reported. The KOICA and Vietnam’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) inked a Record of Discussion (ROD) on the implementation of the project in Hanoi on January 8. Discussions on the project were put on table since 2018. The project is expected to help Vietnam apply new technologies in improving its management capability over lakes and reservoirs, said Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Nguyen Hoang Hiep. KOICA Vietnam Director Kim Jin Oh hoped that the project will be implemented in other localities in Vietnam soon. This is the first technical support project between the KOICA and the Water Resource Directorate (WRD), under the MARD. Earlier in May 2019, the KOICA unveiled a plan to increase the combined official development assistance (ODA) for Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Cambodia, Indonesia and the Philippines to KRW180.4 billion ($151 million) by 2023 from KRW87 billion last year, in line with South Korea’s diplomatic outreach toward the region. (Nong Nghiep Viet Nam, nongnghiep)