3.5 million USD ready to fund for the building of 1,000 storm-and flood-resilient houses

On the afternoon of December 8, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Mr. Nguyen Hoang Hiep, received and held discussions with Mr. Patrick Haverman, Deputy Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Vietnam, regarding matters related to the extension phase of the project "Enhancing resilience to the impacts of climate change for vulnerable coastal communities in Vietnam," funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF).

Deputy Minister Nguyen Hoang Hiep shared that the fundamental goals of the project have been successfully achieved, and all four components of the project have been substantially implemented. The largest objective, supporting 4,000 households in building storm and flood-resistant houses, has been completed. Activities related to mangrove forests with the current area have also been fundamentally completed.

Although UNDP has assisted in fulfilling financial obligations for committed activities in 2021, there remains an unused amount of 3.5 million USD in the project. Therefore, to utilize this surplus non-repayable funding, and considering the highly effective outcomes of Phase 1 supporting the construction of resilient houses for poor households, UNDP has agreed with GCF to extend the project until July 2024. Consequently, the remaining funds will be used to construct over 1,000 additional safe houses and plant an additional 103 hectares of mangrove forests.

Mr. Patrick Haverman, Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP in Vietnam, expressed pride in the close cooperation between the two parties and the achievement of set goals, surpassing the expectations of the sponsor. "We have about 3.5 million USD that does not need to be returned to the sponsor, and we decided to use this amount to support more than 1,000 households in building safe houses. We have collaborated with the Directorate of Water Resources, the Disaster Management Department, and the International Cooperation Department to implement the next steps of the project," Mr. Haverman informed.

Addressing some challenges raised by UNDP during the meeting, Deputy Minister Nguyen Hoang Hiep stated that concerning counterpart funds, localities have committed to providing the necessary additional funds. In the coming period, the Ministry will establish an Appraisal Committee in early December and will soon issue detailed guidelines to send to localities within the same month.

Regarding the mangrove plantation, the Deputy Minister emphasized the need for concerted efforts to achieve the completion goal before July 2024 due to seasonal and climatic factors.

Furthermore, with the successes achieved from the GCF project, the Deputy Minister suggested that UNDP coordinate the early project evaluation around August to October 2024. This is a highly efficient model that needs to be replicated by localities, and building safe houses against disasters is one of the key investment priorities that Vietnam is concerned about in the upcoming period.

Mr. Patrick Haverman proposes that the Project Appraisal Committee should involve the participation of the Provincial Departments of Agriculture and Rural Development. Meanwhile, Thua Thien Hue and Nam Dinh are two provinces that have considerable experience in housing construction and mangrove afforestation.

If the progress is expedited, the UNDP representative expects that houses could be handed over to the residents before the Lunar New Year in 2023.

Regarding the organization of the project wrap-up meeting, UNDP considers this a successful model in Vietnam. While many households still reside in areas vulnerable to disasters, there is ample space for expanding the project. With the achievements that the project has attained, the UNDP representative also hopes to share with the United Nations how Vietnam has exerted efforts in disaster prevention.

"Funds from the GCF project are ready; we are only awaiting signals from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to promptly allocate and correspondingly coordinate with the provinces for house construction, aiming to complete before the flood season," stated the UNDP representative.

During the meeting, Deputy Minister Nguyen Hoang Hiep also called on UNDP to continue implementing direct support projects to assist Vietnam in promoting green growth and building a responsible agricultural sector.