Environment fund says soft loans await enterprises

The Vietnam Environment Protection Fund on Wednesday introduced a fund for environment protection to southern enterprises and encouraged them to access it for their projects to enjoy lower interest rates than at banks.

Nguyen Nam Phuong, director of the fund, told participants at an investment promotion seminar in HCMC that manufacturers could take out a loan worth 70% to 75% of the total value of their projects for a term of up to 10 years and with an interest rate of 5.4% per year.

Like other credit institutions, the fund requires borrowers to have certain assets as collateral for their loans.

Phuong said this was a non-profit fund mandated to support production companies which are looking for greener business.

He said the fund would base its selection of borrowers on such criteria as the urgency, effectiveness and loan repayment ability of their projects. Besides, the fund will target wastewater treatment projects in industrial park, household solid waste treatment and energy saving projects.

This was the first time the fund had organized an investment promotion event to introduce itself to southern companies. However, several companies in the south have already accessed preferential loans from the fund for their investments.

Ngo Xuan Tiec, general director of Tam Sinh Nghia Development and Investment Co., said the company has secured a preferential loan for its two household garbage treatment plants in the Mekong Delta province of Kien Giang.

A representative of Dong Nai Rubber Company said the company was offered a loan worth VND37.5 billion to build a wastewater treatment system.

Sao Viet Company in Vung Tau City, which has accessed the fund for its project, advised fund seekers to carefully study the criteria and prepared all required documents to save on time.

Phuong of the fund said besides pooling capital from the State budget, the fund had cooperated with other local and international organizations to attract direct funding for projects and to spur capital for the fund.

Set up in 2002, the fund had lent some VND600 billion to 113 projects across the country as of March this year.

(Source: SGT)