Ho Chi Minh City raises maximum loan to 200 billion VND per school construction project

On December 6, the Department of Labor, War Invalids and Social Affairs, the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City and the Ho Chi Minh City State Financial Investment Company (HFIC) jointly organized a conference to implement the interest rate support policy for investment projects in the fields of education and training and vocational education in Ho Chi Minh City.

A public kindergarten project is invested in construction and put into use in Binh Tan district in 2024.

ILLUSTRATION: DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING, BINH TAN DISTRICT

Many new and favorable points in interest rate support policy for investment projects

Leaders of the People's Committees, Departments of Education and Training of districts, towns and Thu Duc City; high schools; university principals' councils; leaders of colleges, vocational schools, non-public schools... discussed and clarified issues related to the implementation of interest rate support policies, in order to create conditions for educational institutions to access and effectively invest in preferential loan sources.

Mr. Duong Tri Dung, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, spoke at the conference.

Speaking at the conference, Mr. Duong Tri Dung, Deputy Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, said that the network of schools in all fields and levels of education in the city has been spread throughout the wards (communes), 21 districts and Thu Duc City with an increasingly growing scale, basically meeting the requirements for facilities for learning and organizing teaching activities with 2 sessions/day. However, there are still some districts with many primary and secondary schools with higher numbers than the regulations, the rate of students studying 2 sessions/day is low; the conditions of playgrounds, training grounds, and libraries do not meet the prescribed standards, affecting the management and quality of teaching and learning.

According to Mr. Dung, although policies have been developed to create many forms of investment in the education sector, the proportion of investment projects from social resources is still limited, not fully exploiting the preferential policies of the city. Particularly for public investment capital, although it is always prioritized for investment in the education and training sector, it still cannot keep up with the development of science and technology as well as meet the needs of learning places and the desire to improve the quality of education of the people in the current period and the long term to come.

The leader of the Department of Education and Training said that from 2018 to now, the city has implemented Resolution No. 54 and Resolution No. 98 of the National Assembly on piloting specific mechanisms and policies for city development, including the policy of "Investment stimulus loan program" implemented by HFIC. Thanks to this policy, the education sector has had many public and non-public projects participating, contributing significantly to the development of quality, bringing many values to better meet the needs of the people.

In particular, in July, the city issued Decision No. 42 on implementing the interest rate support policy for investment projects with many new, favorable and superior points compared to previous stimulus programs. "The interest rate support policy will be a strong driving force for educational institutions, from public schools to non-public educational institutions, to upgrade facilities, improve teaching quality, and at the same time develop new educational models to meet the increasing needs of people and the labor market," said Mr. Dung.

Mr. Nguyen Quang Thanh, Deputy General Director of Ho Chi Minh City State Financial Investment Company (HFIC), informed about new points on investment support policies.

Committed to creating favorable conditions for investors to participate in education and training projects.

At the conference, Mr. Nguyen Quang Thanh, Deputy General Director of HFIC, informed about the new points including the maximum loan amount of up to 200 billion VND per project, no counterpart capital requirement, flexible loan period, and the ability to borrow for multiple projects at the same time. "Hopefully, this policy will help educational institutions easily access capital, while promoting the development of facilities and improving the quality of teaching and learning in Ho Chi Minh City," said Mr. Thanh.

In addition to implementing the interest rate support policy, the conference also introduced the list of key educational projects and available educational land funds in the area to attract investment. Educational institutions, investors and stakeholders had the opportunity to access detailed information about the projects, in order to promote investment cooperation in the education sector, contributing to improving the quality of facilities and education quality in Ho Chi Minh City.

In particular, the city also commits to creating favorable conditions for investors to participate in education and training projects through public investment forms and public-private partnership (PPP) models, in order to reduce the burden on the budget and promote sustainable development of the education sector.

23 projects need investment and 69 vacant lands for education

According to information from Mr. Duong Tri Dung, 23 projects attracting investment include 3 projects in Thu Duc City; 10 projects in District 8; 8 projects in District 12, District 7 and Go Vap District, each locality has 1 project.

In addition, according to the results of the joint review between the Department of Education and Training and localities, the city currently has 69 educational land funds in residential development projects that have been approved by the city to be assigned to enterprises as investors. However, up to now, the construction of schools has not been implemented on schedule, affecting the development and completion of the school planning network and putting considerable pressure on the ability to meet the demand for school places for children of local people.

The land fund is concentrated as follows: District 12 has 25 projects; District 8 has 11 projects, Binh Tan District and Nha Be District each have 9 projects; Binh Thanh District has 6 projects; Binh Chanh District has 5 projects; District 7 has 4 projects.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/tphcm-nang-muc-vay-toi-da-len-200-ti-dong-moi-du-an-xay-dung-truong-hoc-185241206145102718.htm