Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has allowed the Ministry of Information and Communications (MIC) to implement an extended project to promote computer usage and public internet access in Vietnam in the 2011-2016 period.

The project, worth a total of $50.5 million, will be carried out in 40 cities and provinces across the country. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will provide $30 million in non-refundable aid; Microsoft will grant $3.6 million; and the remaining funds will be sourced from Vietnam.

Under the project, rural people in poor areas will have an opportunity to get updated information through computers connected to the internet at public libraries, communal cultural houses, and post offices.

MIC Deputy Minister Tran Duc Lai said that the pilot project, which was already implemented in 99 public places in Thai Nguyen, Nghe An and Tra Vinh provinces, was awarded eWorld 2011 prize for rural management. It helped 2,000 local people get direct access to different events at both the central and grassroots level. Nearly 4,000 people also had a chance to attend training courses, he added.