HCMC – Can Tho City has proposed halting the use of Hungarian official development assistance (ODA) for a long-delayed cancer hospital project and is seeking over VND1.3 trillion from the central Government to resume construction work.
The Can Tho Oncology Hospital project, which got off the ground in 2017, has seen minimal progress despite being nearly eight years in the making. The hospital was originally expected to be completed by the end of 2020, with a capacity of 500 beds and a total investment of over VND1.7 trillion. Of this, around VND1.39 trillion was to be funded through Hungarian ODA, and the remaining VND334 billion through local counterpart funding, reported the Government news website (chinhphu.vn).
Construction had been roughly 80% complete in terms of structural work before it was halted in July 2022. The delay stemmed from the expiration of both the engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contract and the ODA loan agreement. Complications also arose due to repeated requests from the Hungarian contractor to substitute equipment not originally included in the contract, which failed to meet the requirement that at least 50% of the goods originate from Hungary.
As of now, disbursement has reached just over VND253 billion, or around 21% of the contract’s value.
At a Government meeting in Can Tho on July 13 chaired by Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh, chairman of the People’s Committee of Can Tho, Tran Van Lau, called for approval to end the use of Hungarian ODA and requested budget support from the central Government to complete the project. The city committed to completing all necessary procedures and bringing the hospital into operation by the end of 2026 if funding is secured.
Minister of Finance Nguyen Van Thang confirmed that the ministry and Can Tho authorities had agreed to terminate the current ODA project and convert it into a domestically funded initiative. Two funding options are being considered: using this year’s contingency budget for immediate needs or including the project in the 2026–2030 medium-term public investment plan.
