Project description

Title: Wastewater and Solid Waste Management for Provincial Centres
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Socialist Republic of Viet Nam
Lead executing agency: Ministry of Construction (MoC)
Overall term: 2005 to 2014

Context

Viet Nam’s urban population is growing rapidly. Existing urban infrastructure, however, is insufficient to guarantee environmentally compatible wastewater and solid waste disposal. Wastewater collection and treatment plants are almost non-existent or are in a very poor condition. Solid waste disposal rarely meets international environmental standards. The environment is severely polluted, and the health of urban inhabitants, and of the rural population who live downstream, is endangered.

Objective

The conditions for sustainable wastewater disposal and solid waste management are improved.

Approach

Using a multi-level strategy, the programme is delivering advisory services at national level to the Ministry of Construction (MoC) and at provincial level to six service providers and People’s Councils. The lessons learned by technical cooperation (TC) during implementation of the programme at provincial level are channelled upward to the national level and firmly established in legislation in collaboration with the lead executing agency (MoC). This is an important prerequisite for the development of a well-organised wastewater and solid waste management sector at provincial level.

The TC module involves the delivery of advisory services by specialist international and national personnel, training programmes for national experts and the supply of materials and equipment.

At national level, the project is supporting the efforts of the Ministry of Construction (MoC) to improve its technical expertise and efficiency in the wastewater and solid waste management sector. At provincial level, support is being provided to help six operating organisations and local government authorities deliver wastewater management services in provincial cities.

To date, the programme has been jointly implemented by GIZ and KfW Entwicklungsbank in six provincial cities. Investment funds for the upgrading of sector infrastructure are being provided by financial cooperation (FC). Technical cooperation (TC) is helping make these FC investments sustainable by implementing intensive institutional development measures and by promoting citizen participation.

Results achieved so far

• The Wastewater Decree was approved by the Prime Minister of Viet Nam in May 2007. The regulations for implementation were declared to be legally binding by the Minister for Construction in May 2009. This has created the legal and institutional framework for efficient and sustainable wastewater management in the provincial urban centres.
• The first province in Viet Nam to introduce a cost-covering wastewater tariff in line with the Wastewater Decree was Soc Trang. A concrete plan to collect the tariff is currently being developed by the People’s Committee and the wastewater service provider in Soc Trang. The funds collected will be used for the maintenance and operation of the facilities developed through the FC module.
• All six wastewater service providers are implementing individual Corporate Development Plans (CDPs). These are recognised as official planning documents by the service providers as well as by the local authorities (Provincial People’s Committees). This procedure is new to Viet Nam and makes it possible for municipal service providers to manage their operations along modern lines with an increasing degree of independence from state subsidies.
• Customer Care Units have been set up in all six cities. The public information campaigns carried out by these units have already led to a substantial improvement in environmental awareness among the population. In response to a survey conducted in the cities of Bac Ninh and Soc Trang, 92 per cent of women and 89 per cent of men were able to provide specific information about the negative implications for health of inappropriate wastewater and solid waste management. In the same survey, 93 per cent of women and 91 per cent of men were able to identify their rights and obligations under a proper system of wastewater management (in accordance with the Wastewater Decree).

Further information

• Website of the programme
  www.wastewater-vietnam.org