The Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Vietnam on February 2 revealed that it has signed a 100 million USD loan facility agreement with China Everbright International Limited (CEIL) to help a series of municipal waste-to-energy (WTE) plants in first- and second-tier cities in the Mekong Delta region. 

This initiative will be the first municipal WTE public-private partnership (PPP) project in the country.

Christopher Thieme, Deputy Director General of ADB’s Private Sector Operations Department said that the agreement will be a new model to improve solid waste management in cities, and also mitigate climate change by reducing methane and increasing energy generation from renewable sources. 

Vietnam generates more than 27.8 million tonnes of waste annually. Most of the waste collected are disposed in landfills in an unhygienic manner. This poses a significant health threat to nearby communities, mostly urban poor. One of the most effective ways to treat and manage this increasing quantity of municipal solid waste is through WTE, which can reduce waste volume by 90 percent and eliminate greenhouse gas emissions, while also producing energy from the heat of the waste during incineration.

ADB’s assistance will support the construction and operation of a series of WTE plants with advanced clean technologies in multiple municipalities in Vietnam. Each WTE plant will treat municipal solid waste and supply electricity to the local electricity grid. CEIL will develop and invest in WTE subprojects in Vietnam to facilitate the harmless treatment, reduction, and reuse of household waste in the cities and produce clean electricity. 

CEIL is one of the world’s leading integrated environmental protection companies with environmental protection projects spanning 18 provinces and municipalities in the People’s Republic of China. As of end of 2017, CEIL had 43 WTE projects in operation with a combined processing capacity of 39,100 tons per day and generation capacity of about 4,300 gigawatt-hours per year.

ADB, based in Manila, is dedicated to reducing poverty in Asia and the Pacific through inclusive economic growth, environmentally sustainable growth, and regional integration. Established in 1966, it is owned by 67 members - 48 from the region.-VNA