The northern rice-growing province of Bac Ninh is set to receive 372 billion VND(roughly 200,000 USD) loan from France to inprove the province’s irrigationcapacity.

The funding, to be provided by the French Development Agency(AFD), will be usde to upgrade and build three pumping stations in Luong Taidistrict and upgrade the irrigation channels in Gia Binh district.

Thisis part of the Strengthening Water Management and Irrigation SystemsRehabilitation project that has been approved by the Ministry of Agriculture andRural Development (MARD).

A group of AFD experts and MARD officials onMarch 4 made the final field trip to the project sites before implementationwork is kicked off from July this year. All the construction work is slated tocomplete by mid-2015.

Upon completion, the Phu My pumping station willprovide water to 5,600 ha of cultivated land in Gia Thuan region and pumpalluvial soil to fertilize the area.

The Nhat Trai and Kenh Vang IIpumping stations, after going into operation, will work with a currently-usedstation, to discharge flood water for over 14,800 ha in Gia Thuanregion.

Bac Ninh still meets with difficulties in water management andconstruction of dyke systems and pumping stations, said Provincial People’sCommittee Chairman Tran Van Tuy.

Over the recent past, the province hasreceived funding from the AFD and the Asian Development Bank for its projects,which are now operating effectively, he added while calling for continuedassistance from international institutions.

The AFD has twice invested intwo projects in Bac Ninh, which was completed in 2008. The first project was theDuong River stone embankment and a 30-km belt road along the dyke linking ThuanThanh and Gia Binh districts. The second one was the Duong River floodprevention project./.