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A river embankment project in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho may lose France’s financial aid.

If the project is not completed before June 15, the French Development Agency (AFD) will stop financing the project, and the local government must tap its budget to fund the remaining components of the project, said Herve Conan, director of AFD in Vietnam.

Herve Conan, director of the French Development Agency in Vietnam, speaks at a meeting with the government of the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho on March 1 (Photo: PLO)

He was speaking during a meeting with the government of Can Tho held on March 1. His warning came as the project has been moving at a snail’s pace, especially the resettlement work.

“With the current progress, contractors could finish about 86% of the construction volume of bidding packages backed by the AFD,” Conan said.

The Can Tho river embankment project, part of a dyke system for flood control in Can Tho, has an expected length of over five kilometers, with the highest point of the dyke reaching 3.05 meters.

The project aims to help the Mekong Delta city cope with climate change.

It is funded by the city’s budget and foreign official development assistance loans, with a total value of nearly VND1.1 trillion. Loans from the AFD contribute to over VND470 billion, and the remainder comes from the city’s budget.

(The Saigon Times)