Hanoi cuts back second national highway plan
HANOI - Vietnam has slashed the
budget for a controversial 1,800 km (1,100 mile)
highway planned to upgrade links between the north and
south of the country, the official news agency said on
Friday.
The official Vietnam News Agency (VNA) reported on
Friday that planned spending would be cut by 75
percent, from $1.47 billion to $372 million.
VNA did not make clear whether these outlays applied
only to government expenditure, but added that official
development assistance funds would be used for the
project.
The north-south expressway was first announced by
former premier Vo Van Kiet last year. However, there
had been some speculation earlier this year that the
project had been put on hold because of the communist
country's economic difficulties.
The plan calls for vast labour teams comprising youth
volunteers and national service conscripts to carve out a
route through jungle and mountains down the country's
sparsely populated western spine. The project is
expected to begin in 2001.
Both Vietnamese and foreign economists have criticised
Kiet's proposal to expand a largely inactive compulsory
labour scheme for the project.
Vietnam's main existing north-south artery, National
Highway One, remains a bumpy narrow road along the
central coast. A single gauge rail line also links Hanoi
and southern Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon.
Both routes are frequently severed when storms hit.
The World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and
Japan have been funding upgrade work on Highway
One.
Reuters - October 16, 1998.
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