VietNamNet Bridge – The government of HCMC is finding investors for a wastewater treatment plant with a designed daily capacity of 300,000 cubic meters.

Nhieu Loc – Thi Nghe Canal – (Illustrative image – Photo: VNP)

The US$300 million Tan Hoa-Lo Gom canal basin wastewater treatment project will be implemented under the public-private partnership (PPP) format, according to Le Thanh Liem, director of the HCMC Urban Upgrade Project Authority.

Liem said the facility covering 22 hectares in Tan Nhut Commune in Binh Chanh District can treat all wastewater in Tan Hoa-Lo Gom canal basin. This untreated wastewater is now collected via eight-kilometer sewers but discharged directly to Tau Hu-Ben Nghe Canal.

Liem told a press briefing on the Tan Hoa-Lo Gom canal rehabilitation project in HCMC on Tuesday that some investors had shown interest in the wastewater treatment project, including one Korean firm.

The HCMC Department of Planning and Investment is currently reviewing and preparing regulations for environmental projects to be carried out under the PPP format.  

So far, a number of investors have suggested plans to develop wastewater treatment facilities in the city. For instance, a consortium of UE Newater (Vietnam) Ltd. under Singapore’s group UEL and DPD Investment and Construction Co. Ltd. is seeking approval to build West Saigon plant with a daily capacity of 150,000 cubic meters and at a cost of some US$80 million.

The plant is designed to treat household wastewater in the Tham Luong-Ben Cat-Nuoc Len canal basin in districts Tan Phu, Binh Tan and 12.

A consortium of SFC Vietnam Investment Development for Environment Corporation and Phu Xuan Construction and Trading Company Limited has proposed building Suoi Nhum wastewater treatment plant in Thu Duc District with a daily capacity of 65,000 cubic meters and valued at nearly VND523 billion to treat wastewater in Xuan Truong, Suoi Nhum, Suoi Cai and Go Cat springs.

According to the HCMC Steering Center for Urban Flood Control, the city has two operational wastewater treatment facilities, Binh Hung and Binh Hung Hoa, with daily capacities of 141,000 cubic meters and 30,000 cubic meters respectively. However, the city discharges some two million cubic meters of wastewater a day.

The city broke ground for the second phase of the Binh Hung wastewater treatment project in February to raise the plant’s daily capacity to 469,000 cubic meters. Meanwhile, Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe wastewater treatment plant will be built within this year with a capacity of 480,000 cubic meters per day and at a cost of US$478 million.

As only 13.2% of total wastewater in HCMC is treated, the city is calling for investments in a dozen of wastewater treatment facilities with a combined capacity of three million cubic meters per day.    

SGT