The Vietnamese Ministry of Planning and Investment has announced a list of more than 60 urban infrastructure projects, calling on an estimated US$12 billion of investment in the period of 2009 and 2016, the local newspaper The Youth reported on Thursday.

The projects involve the construction and upgrade of traffic system, infrastructure, sewage plants and water supply and drainage systems in 15 provinces and cities nationwide, said Truong Van Doan, Deputy Minister of Planning and Investment.

Thirty percent of the projects are expected to be funded by official development assistance from French and Spanish governments, the German Reconstruction and Development Bank, the Japan International Cooperation Agency and the Asian Development Bank, said the newspaper.

The remaining projects will be carried out in the forms of private investment, joint ventures, build-transfer (BT) and build-operate-transfer (BOT) funding.

In recent years, Vietnam has put infrastructure development on top agenda by pouring about 13.5 percent of its total social investment fund.

(Xinhua News Agency January 15, 2009)