The south central coastal province of Phu Yen has called for the World Bank (WB)’s provision of official development assistance (ODA) and soft loans for infrastructure and economic development in the locality.

WB Country Director in Vietnam Ousmane Dione (standing) speaks at the conference (Photo: VNA)

Speaking at a conference on Phu Yen-WB development cooperation in Tuy Hoa city on November 16, Pham Dai Duong, Chairman of the provincial People’s Committee said that Phu Yen is in need of WB’s credit assistance to build transport system and natural prevention works such as sea dykes and reservoirs.

The locality also hopes for technical support in planning and conducting feasibility study on the building of smart city in Tuy Hoa, along with consultations in calling for resources from the outside and promoting public-private partnership, he said.

Phu Yen pledges to become a trustworthy local partner of the WB, vowed the provincial leader.

WB Country Director in Vietnam Ousmane Dione said that the bank is willing to cooperate with the south central province and become the locality’s partner in areas proposed by the locality.

Following the conference, the WB will take specific actions to implement relevant projects, he said.

Over the years, Phu Yen has called for resources for the improvement of infrastructure system and socio-economic development.

In the 2011-2015 period, Phu Yen received 14 projects worth 1.38 trillion VND funded by ODA and soft loans, up 21.1 percent over that in the 2006-2010 period.

The resources mostly came from the WB, the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the German Development Bank (KfW), and the French Development Agency (AFD).

The province has attracted two WB-funded projects on overcoming natural disasters’ consequences and strengthening land and land data management for 2016-2020.