Korea will provide its biggest financial assistance to Vietnam for the construction of a road connecting the Southeast Asian country’s regional industrial complex with Ho Chi Minh City.

The Ministry of Strategy and Finance said that Korea will help Vietnam build the 17.85 kilometer, four-lane road linking the Nhon Trach industrial complex, where Korean companies such as POSCO and Lock & Lock have operations, with Vietnam’s biggest city.

The $430 million project will be financed by the state-run Export-Import Bank of Korea’s economic development cooperation fund and the private sector.

The two sides will carry out the construction project in the form of public-private partnership in which private companies from both countries will also invest in, build and operate the road.

Korean companies would have to bid for the project to Korea Eximbank, and domestic winners would need to partner with Vietnamese companies for the construction and operation of the road.

The country has helped Vietnam finance 44 infrastructure projects, including hospitals, public water systems and waste treatment for economic development as of the end of August this year.

Its EDCF financed around $30 million to $50 million per project on average, making the road project the single biggest Korean investment in Vietnam.

Korea’s investment in Vietnam’s infrastructure sector accounted for more than 20 percent of the total in Southeast Asia, the biggest in the region.

By Park Hyong-ki (hkp@heraldcorp.com)