VietNamNet Bridge – A series of foreign companies are eager to tap the promising opportunities in the water related solution market in Vietnam, which is facing water security challenges in a changing era.

Manager-director of the US- headquartered Dynamic Solutions International LLC (DSI) Jun Go told VIR at the 4th International Symposium and Exhibition on Vietnam Water Co-operation Initiative (VACI 2015) in Hanoi last week that Vietnam was a promising market for international groups, including DSI, as water infrastructure systems had not yet been well-developed.

“We established our representative office in Hanoi in 2002 to provide the international development agencies and companies with focused and experienced technical and management support, and we are seeing more investment opportunities here,” Go added.

In the same move, Italy’s CAE S.p.A which has been present in Vietnam since 2007, will consider opening a subsidiary in Vietnam when more favourable  conditions arise to tap into the rising demand of the local market, said Giancarlo Maria Pedrini, vice president  of CAF.

Meanwhile, Singapore’s Sea and Land Technologies Pte Ltd, has been a supplier of hydrographic and environmental equipment for the Vietnamese market via Dai Quang Company. The firm is planning to establish a representative office in Vietnam in one or two years.

In early October, the Ayalaled Manila Water also announced that it was investing US$4.26 million in its Singaporean unit Manila Water Asia Pacific. The funds will be used to bankroll “further investments in Vietnam,” the company said, without elaborating. Manila Water in 2008 secured a five year water leakage reduction deal with Vietnam’s state-owned Saigon Water.

The contract was later expanded to include a bulk water supply agreement. Manila Water is operating in Vietnam through such affiliates as Thu Duc Water B.O.O Corp, Kenh Dong Water Supply JSC, and Saigon Water Infrastructure Corporation, all based in Ho Chi Minh City.

“We believe that Vietnam and Myanmar, as well as Indonesia, serve as potential growth areas for Manila Water,” chairman Fernando Zobel de Ayala said in a speech at the company’s annual shareholder meeting in April.

VIR