Vietnam: Urban Upgrading Project

Published: Tue, 15 Sep 2009 14:23:46 GMT

Vietnam is rapidly urbanizing, with an estimated one million new urban residents added each year. By 2020, 40 percent of Vietnam’s population of 100 million will live in urban areas/cities. As urbanization rapidly increases, the number of urban poor is also expected to increase, with major problems of access to infrastructure and basic services. Low-income urban areas are facing the challenges of low quality housing, high densities, poorly maintained infrastructure, health and environmental hazards, frequent flooding due to poor drainage, and inadequate social services.


The Vietnam Urban Upgrading Project, launched in 2004, is intended to alleviate poverty in urban areas by improving the living and environmental conditions of the urban poor using participatory planning methods, and influencing planning processes so they become more inclusive and pro-poor. These objectives are reflected in components of the project, including use of partnerships between communities and local governments to upgrade basic tertiary infrastructure and other services in low-income areas, providing affordable housing to low-income families that have to be resettled as a result of upgrading, establishing a housing improvement loan program for low-income households in upgraded areas, and providing technical assistance to improve land administration processes in the project cities.


Mid-way through project implementation, over 200,000 low-income people have already benefited directly from improved infrastructure, such as health centers, kindergartens, community centers and primary schools.

Highlights:
- Major drainage and wastewater works have been completed in several cities benefiting over 400,000 additional people.

- Over 36,000 housing improvement loans have been made to low-income households in targeted communities with 95 percent repayment rates.

- Households with valid land-use certificates have increased from about 50 percent before the project to over 80 percent in targeted communities.

- Property values in upgraded low-income communities have increased 2 to 4 times.

- Participatory planning and community supervision of works has been introduced in all targeted cities.

- The National Urban Upgrading Strategy was approved by the Prime Minister in 2009.

- Phase 2 has now begun and will include upgrading of low-income areas for over 600,000 additional people, plus major investments in drainage and flood control, waste water collection, canal improvements and road networks.

- All told, about 1,865,000 residents are expected to benefit directly, and another 1,070,000 residents will experience indirect benefits from the project.


IDA contributed US$222.47 million to the Vietnam Urban Upgrading Project. In July 2009 an additional US$160 million of IDA funding was approved to complete the Tan Hoa – Lo Gom canal improvement project in Ho Chi Minh City which will benefit about 1 million people.


Local community groups contributed US$4.15 million, the Japan Ministry of Finance contributed US$4.84 million, and the Social Republic of Vietnam allocated over US$150 million of their budget to the program. Cities Alliance funded much of the original policy work leading to the program.


This project has paved the way for future planning by providing government capacity building, technical support for land and housing management, and the preparation of the National Urban Upgrading Program. IDA and the Social Republic of Vietnam are currently preparing the Second Vietnam Urban Upgrading Project (VUUP2) which will focus on cities in the Mekong Delta Region highly vulnerable to climate change. The proposed project will focus on improving living conditions and the environment of the urban poor by providing critical tertiary infrastructure in low-income areas and support infrastructure in selected cities in the Mekong Delta Region.


####

All news articles and audio video media productions courtesy of BBiTV and/or its network channel stations affiliates/newsfeeds. BBiTV is the premier worldwide global destination site on the internet for humanitarian, charity and philanthropy activity, media, news, entertainment and information updates and archives, and soon to offer via the world wide web full interactive chat applications and a social networking platform for humanitarians and philanthropists in the field and at home as well as a transparent donation facility for direct contributions to all manner of charitable organizations and humanitarian foundations. Copyright IllumAlliance Humanitarian Group, LLC 2008-2009. All Rights Reserved.


  

Search the news
Go to World Bank News Channel
Go to news overview
Back to mainpage

Comments

No one has commented on this article, be the first!

Name:
Email:
Comment: