South Korea to lend $100mn for bridge projects

Twenty-two bridges to be renovated or built with loan from South Korea's Economic Development Cooperation Fund.

The South Korean Government’s Economic Development Cooperation Fund (EDCF) will provide a loan $100 million for Vietnam to build or renovate 22 bridges around the country.

The bridge renovation project and bridges connecting highways using EDCF funds have been approved by the Prime Minister, according to the Ministry of Transport.

The budget to complete this project will total about $100 million, from official development assistance (ODA) loans and about $30 million in domestic reciprocal capital.

Project Management Unit No.2 under the Ministry of Transport said that the funding, within the South Korea-funded framework agreement for 2012-2015, is only $60 million while the financing framework agreement for the period 2016-2020 has not been discussed by the two governments.

Therefore, in order to effectively use the remaining fund from South Korea, the two governments must come to an agreement to divide the project into two stages.

The first stage will research and construct six bridges using funds from the 2012-2015 period while the second stage will build 16 bridges with capital from the 2016-2020 period.

In terms of design solutions, consultancy partnerships have coordinated with local sub-consultants to conduct field surveys, geological surveys, and studies of terrain and hydrography to compile plans.

This will ensure economic efficiency, technical feasibility, and consistency of construction methods. After researching, certain bridges will be proposed for construction rather than renovation.

The cost for the second stage is expected to be $47.51 million in ODA loans and about $13.83 in reciprocal capital. Consultancy partnerships, however, have assessed that the actual cost for the second stage is $48.387 million from ODA funds and about $12.5 million in reciprocal capital.

Project Management Unit No.2 said that the difference is not significant, so after the Ministry of Transport finalizes the basic design for the bridges in the second stage, they will tally the volume and details of construction measures to ensure that the total investment does not exceed the budget approved by the government.

There were 861 bridges in disrepair in Vietnam as at the end of 2016 out of its total of 5,869. Of these, 150 require investment from 2016-2020 funds, according to the Ministry of Transport.

by Van Hai / VET