Although a relatively poor province with unevenly developed infrastructure, Binh Phuoc province has made impressive breakthroughs in development investment, infrastructure construction and poverty reduction in rural and mountainous areas thanks to its effective mobilisation, management and use of ODA capital. To learn more about this issue, Vietnam Business Forum Magazine has an interview with Mr Vu Thanh Nam, Director of Department of Planning and Investment of Binh Phuoc province. Thanh Tuyen reports.
Could you brief us on ODA capital mobilisation and utilisation in the province in recent years? How has this source of capital worked?
Binh Phuoc province has recently received and managed many ODA-funded projects. Primary donors include the Japan Bank for International Cooperation -JBIC (10 projects in transport infrastructure, bridge, road and rural electrification, totalling US$4.6 million), and the World Bank (WB) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) (in water supply and wastewater treatment, education, health, infrastructure and rural community development, totalling US$1.3 million). ODA capital sources have significantly contributed to socioeconomic development and improved quality of life in the province.
In the education - training field, ODA has helped upgrade equipment and facilities for primary schools; enhance the management capacity of teachers, improve primary education quality, and specially support students in difficult circumstances. In the health sector, ODA has effectively enhanced the quality of training and support for health workers.
Investment for water supply and wastewater treatment systems has positively enhanced tap water quality and environmental sanitation for residents in Dong Xoai Town. Particularly, in 2006 - 2010, the province invested to complete the water supply system in Dong Xoai Town with a daily capacity of 4,000 cubic metres and is investing US$15.77 million to upgrade the system to supply 20,000 cubic metres a day. In addition, the province is undertaking the implementation of water drainage and treatment system with a daily capacity of 10,000 cubic metres with a total investment of US$17.5 million. Especially, in the field of rural and community-based infrastructure investment, the World Bank funded the province with VND207.84 billion to carry out the “community-based countryside cooperation” project over eight years (2002 - 2009) to invest in rural infrastructure like the electricity grid, roads, schools, clinics and cultural houses in 43 communes.
Has your province confronted any problems in carrying out these projects and programmes?
Most ODA-funded projects in the province are mainly engaged in traffic infrastructure construction and upgrading; water supply, drainage and treatment systems; medical and educational equipment investment, rural infrastructure investment, community development, and urban upgrading.
In completed and ongoing projects, Binh Phuoc has faced some difficulties and problems. For instance, the province has paid high attention to preparing the list of invested items and registered budgets, but it is very difficult to access the funding. In addition, strict requirements of financing institutions limit investment flows into the province. Many large-scale ODA projects require a significant counterpart funds from the province and this is also a challenge.
What policies will Binh Phuoc province adopt to enhance the efficiency of ODA capital in the coming time?
To further heighten the efficient use and management of ODA capital, the province will urge stakeholders to speed up the process of registration, reception and disbursement of ODA funds. It will set up and operate monitoring and assessing systems for ODA-funded projects at all levels to lay the groundwork for accelerating the progress of implementing and the speed of fund disbursement. It will guide ODA stakeholders to make immediate reports on difficulties and problems arising from each ODA programme and project to attain better outcomes.
Besides, we will try to arrange counterpart funds in a timely manner for ODA-funded programmes and projects. At the same time, we will draw experience and lessons from completed and ongoing projects to manage and utilise ODA loans more effectively in the future.
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