HCMC chairman Le Hoang Quan on Monday sat down with the World Bank (WB) representatives to discuss funding for the second phase of the city’s environmental sanitation project worth US$470 million, with the global lender expected to supply US$450 million.

Some US$200 million will be financed by International Development Association, under the World Bank and the remainder will be backed by the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development with higher interest rate, according to the meeting.

Victoria Kwakwa, country director for the World Bank in Vietnam, suggested the city to appoint the management board that monitored the project’s first phase to continue doing the works so as to take full use of their ability and experience.

HCMC’s environmental sanitation project is divided into two phases. The first phase, which cost US$317 million including US$294 million funded by WB, kicked off in 1993 with an aim to improve the environment conditions and cityscape along the Nhieu Loc- Thi Nghe Canal.

The second phase, requiring total investment of US$470 million, will be deployed between 2015 and 2019. The highlight is a drainage system stretching eight kilometers from Nhieu Loc- Thi Nghe canal to a sewage treatment plant with daily capacity of 480,000 cubic meters in District 2.

The delegates also talked over an urban upgrading project worth US$592 million comprising US$266 million in Official Development Assistance loans offered by the global lender.

The lender at the meeting suggested the city to address four key issues including disbursement pace, development strategy, water supply and green transport.

SGT