(VOVworld) - Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung attended a groundbreaking ceremony on Friday for a 450-million-USD project to develop an infrastructure system in Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park on the outskirts of Hanoi.

Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung speaks at the event (Photo: VNA)

The project, which was approved by the Government in 2010, is being funded through a 400 million USD from Japan’s official development assistance (ODA) and the balance from the Vietnamese Government. The project is expected to be completed in 2018 with all five contract packages scheduled to commence this year. Addressing the ceremony, the Government leader said high-quality human resources and advanced science and technology were among the key factors for sustainable and rapid growth in the current context of globalization, international integration and fierce market competition. He expects the Hoa Lac Hi-Tech Park will become a smart urban area serving science and technology research, appliance, creation and transfers: “The construction inauguration of the infrastructure is significant to further develop the Hoa Lac Hi-Tech industrial park. In 2018, when the infrastructure is put into operation, the park will be able to develop”.

The PM thanked the Japanese Government for its ODA to Vietnam of about 27 billion USD over the past two decades, mostly for socioeconomic infrastructure, becoming Vietnam’s largest ODA provider.