A view of HCM City. — Photo sggp.org.vn

HCM CITY (Biz Hub) — HCM City faces a deficit of around VND42 trillion (US$2 billion) in infrastructure funding over the next five years, the head of a State financial firm has said.

Speaking at a meeting last Friday Pham Phu Quoc, general director the HCM City Financial Investment Company (HFIC), said the city needs VND203.1 trillion ($9.1 billion) through 2020, especially to ease traffic congestion and prevent flooding.

But it can only mobilise around VND123.2 trillion ($5.5 billion) from Government funds and official development assistance besides VND37 trillion ($1.6 billion) from the national support fund for enterprise reorganisation, he said.

HFIC hopes to overcome the $2 billion shortage by adopting the public-private partnership model, raising money through bonds and borrowing at home and abroad, he said.

He called on city authorities to seek Government sanction for HFIC to retain its profits to have more funds for infrastructure development. It is now only allowed to keep 30 per cent and transfer the rest to the Government.

Tran Du Lich, deputy head of the city delegation of the National Assembly, was quote by the Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper as telling the meeting that if HFIC is allowed to retain its earnings, its chartered capital, now only VND7.6 trillion, would increase.

If it has a large capital, the company can issue bonds instead of borrowing from banks, he added. — VNS