ID :
155349
Thu, 12/30/2010 - 08:26
Auther :

Japan plans to provide ODA to Vietnam's water-supply project+

TOKYO, Dec. 29 Kyodo - The Japanese government is planning to provide funds to Vietnam's water-supply project using official development assistance, as a step to boost infrastructure exports by the nation's private firms to emerging economies, sources familiar with the matter said Wednesday.

The move follows Tokyo's decision earlier this year to supply long-term funds
to other nations at low interest rates with an eye on promoting exports of
infrastructure-related projects such as railway and nuclear power plant
construction.
The government is also considering investing in the Philippines' highway
construction project with ODA and taking measures to support the economies of
Asian developing countries utilizing technologies of Japan's small and midsize
enterprises, the sources said.
Japan has lagged behind other nations including South Korea in infrastructure
exports. In cooperation with the private business sector, the government of
Prime Minister Naoto Kan will aim to strengthen its efforts to help Japanese
companies receive more orders from abroad.
The infrastructure export promotion will be one of the key steps for an
economic growth strategy that the government mapped out in June. In the plan,
Tokyo pledged to resume investment in infrastructure projects of other
countries with the use of ODA.
Among ODA projects, provisions of yen loans target governments of other
nations, but investment funds are poured directly into their projects carried
out by the private sector through the state-run Japan International Cooperation
Agency.
As for the water project in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam, Japan's Metawater
Co., established by NGK Insulators Ltd. and Fuji Electric Holdings Co., will
set up a joint venture with local firms and undertake construction and
management of the water treatment plant, the sources said.
Negotiations on the issue are in the final stage and the total cost of the
project is now estimated to reach around 50 billion yen, they said, adding the
JICA will likely invest up to 2 billion yen in the venture.
ODA investment was abolished in fiscal 2002 in Japan, but the government
decided to revive it in December in the face of requests from the business
community claiming that Japan could fail to survive against international
competition in infrastructure exports.
==Kyodo

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