Vietnam Bank for Industry and Trade (VietinBank), the main lender for the Trung Luong-My Thuan expressway project, has pledged to finish appraising the project’s credit plan on September 9 and sign a credit contract with the investors in September, heard attendees at a meeting on September 5.
Speaking at the meeting between the Tien Giang government, BOT Trung Luong-My Thuan JSC and banks, Nguyen Hoang Dung, deputy general director of Vietinbank, noted that the lender would follow the guidelines of deputy prime minister Vuong Dinh Hue.
Dung stated that the three lenders of the projects—Vietinbank, Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam and Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development—will complete the appraisal report for the project next Monday, September 9.
The banks agreed to speed up the signing of the credit agreement and transfer funds to the investors as soon as possible.
The Trung Luong-My Thuan expressway project has three sources of capital: the investors’ equity, State capital and bank loans.
Deputy PM Hue, at a working session with the People’s Committee of Tien Giang Province and the related units on August 27, remarked that the government had pledged to extract VND2.186 trillion from the State budget to fund the project.
This decision had been sent to the National Assembly (NA) Standing Committee and other NA agencies on August 15 for appraisal and approval, he said.
However, the project might face a shortage of capital as Vietnam Prosperity Commercial Bank (VPBank) has withdrawn as a lender.
As such, bank loans for the expressway project are likely to be cut to VND5.8 trillion. Meanwhile, the project needs credits of up to VND7.08 trillion.
Given the possible lack of funding, at a recent meeting between deputy PM Hue and the Tien Giang government, Ho Minh Hoang, chair of BOT Trung Luong-My Thuan Expressway JSC, proposed the main lender, Vietinbank, seek solutions to supplement the loans.
In addition, the bank was asked to look for a replacement for VPBank when appraising credit plans for the project, to ensure sufficient funds.
