States and capital cities

The track of Metro Line No. 1, from Ben Thanh Market to Suoi Tien Theme Park, in HCM City (Photo: VNA) HCM City (VNA) – The Export-Import Bank of the Republic of Korea (KEXIM) has asked Ho Chi Minh City ’s authorities for permission to conduct an investment study for Phase 2 of Metro Line No. 5 , set to be carried out in the public-private partnership (PPP) format. In its letter sent to the Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee and the city’s Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR), KEXIM said it will soon provide funding for the update of the project’s pre-feasibility study, which covers technical, financial, and legal aspects, according to the MAUR. The bank noted that members of the research group and participating investors have experience in building and operating urban railway routes, including Metro Line No. 9 of the RoK’s Seoul capital, in the PPP format. The MAUR said it had a working session on January 19 with some investors and consultancies from the RoK to discuss the study and related orientations for the project. The Korean side, including KEXIM and some businesses and consultancies, presented the plan to update the pre-feasibility study, whose final version is expected to be submitted by the end of 2021. The pre-feasibility study for Phase 2 of Metro Line No. 5 was previously financed by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). However, due to certain objective reasons, the project was unable to be funded through official development assistance (ODA) loans, but the PPP format. The 23.39km-long Metro Line No. 5 is developed in two phases. The first one, from the Bay Hien intersection to Sai Gon Bridge, is about 8.8km long and invested with around 1.66 billion USD. It is funded with ODA capital from the Spanish Government, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the European Investment Bank (EIB), and the German development bank KfW. Meanwhile, Phase 2 is about 14.5km long./. VNA …

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In its letter sent to the Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee and the city’s Management Authority for Urban Railways (MAUR), KEXIM said it will soon provide funding for the update of the project’s pre-feasibility study, which covers technical, financial, and legal aspects, according to the MAUR. The bank noted that members of the research group and participating investors have experience in building and operating urban railway routes, including Metro Line No. 9 of the RoK’s Seoul capital, in the PPP format. The MAUR said it had a working session on January 19 with some investors and consultancies from the RoK to discuss the study and related orientations for the project. The Korean side, including KEXIM and some businesses and consultancies, presented the plan to update the pre-feasibility study, whose final version is expected to be submitted by the end of 2021. The pre-feasibility study for Phase 2 of Metro Line No. 5 was previously financed by the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA). However, due to certain objective reasons, the project was unable to be funded through official development assistance (ODA) loans, but the PPP format. The 23.39km-long Metro Line No. 5 is developed in two phases. The first one, from the Bay Hien intersection to Sai Gon Bridge, is about 8.8km long and invested with around 1.66 billion USD. It is funded with ODA capital from the Spanish Government, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the European Investment Bank (EIB), and the German development bank KfW. Meanwhile, Phase 2 is about 14.5km long. …

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Hi-tech agriculture proves effective in Dong Nai Agricultural production has been affected by abnormal weather conditions, climate change, and diseases over recent years. Many farms in southern Dong Nai province have applied high-technology in agricultural production in order to cope with the situation, helping increase quality and output. High-tech production requires massive investment, not just capital but also technology, equipment, and “grey matter”, to adapt to cutting-edge manufacturing methods. High-tech manufacturing models have been expanded around Dong Nai, especially in animal husbandry and on poultry farms. Dong Nai has more than 46,000 hectares of crops using water-saving technology and the province has gradually changed to green breeding in accordance with Vietnamese Good Agricultural Practice (VietGAP) standards. Agriculture accounts for 8.3 percent of Dong Nai’s economic structure and agro-forestry-fisheries value currently stands at nearly 1.8 billion USD. The results reflect the province’s large-scale manufacturing development investment and high-tech application to adapt to unfavourable conditions and meet market demand. Vietnam’s growth outlook to depend on authorities’ response to new outbreak: WB Vietnam’s growth prospects will depend on how well and how quickly the authorities will bring the new coronavirus outbreak under control and how quickly international and national vaccinations will proceed, according to the World Bank (WB). In its Vietnam Macro Monitoring report issued earlier this month, the WB said January’s industrial production index jumped by 24.5 percent year on year, the highest growth rate since the beginning of 2019. Merchandise exports and imports respectively grew 51.8 percent and 41.8 percent from the same period last year. The preliminary January goods trade surplus is estimated at 1.1 billion USD. Exports to the US and China continued the robust growth of 2020 while those to the EU, ASEAN, Japan …

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