Royal HaskoningDHV joins World Bank Saigon water treatment project
The Saigon river has suffered considerable environmental degradation from untreated waste water from residents and businesses in Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon). The polluted water in particular affects the city and wider regions' poor people. To improve the situation the World Bank launched two projects to add waste water treatment capacity to the city. Royal HaskoningDHV has been tasked with supervision and contract management for two of the construction projects, including a waste treatment plant.
The Saigon river snakes through Vietnam for 240 kilometres, to discharge into the Nhà Bè River before flowing into the East Sea. The river flows past Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon, with a population of more than 8 million. The river has in recent years come under the spotlight from city and regional authorities, by failing to meet water safety standards. The problem had a broad cause, with both residents and industry pumping untreated waste into the river. The city has had limited capacity to deal with waste water, much of the city’s waste water thereby simply being dumped into the river system.
To improve the environmental and social situation around the river, the city World Bank stepped in. The organisation launched the Ho Chi Minh City Environmental Sanitation Project in 2013, focused primarily on reducing untreated waste water discharge into the river by the creation of a waste water treatment plant. The project aimed to improve the health and wellbeing of around 1.2 million of the city’s poorer residents.
It was recently announced that a second project, also funded by the World Bank, called the Second Ho Chi Minh City Environmental Sanitation Project (HCMCES-2), will involve the expertise of specialist consultancy firm Royal HaskoningDHV. The firm will deliver supervision and contract management for the construction of the two major components of the $495 million project, a wastewater treatment plant with a 480,000 m3/d (to be the largest in Vietnam) and an 8-kilometre interceptor of 3.2-metre diameter. The project has a completion date set in 2022.
Remarking about the project, Thang Doan, Royal HaskoningDHV’s Director Water in Vietnam says that he is “delighted” that the firm has been selected to supervise the delivery of project, which, he adds, “will make such a tangible difference to the quality of life in Vietnam’s largest city. Some of our most experienced engineers will be working on this scheme and the award of the project is testament to the quality of work we have already delivered for the IMA. We are confident that our relationship will be further strengthened as work on the Second Ho Chi Minh Environmental Sanitation Project gets underway.”
Vuong Hai Long the Director of the Investment Management Authority (IMA) remarks about the project, “The Vietnam government has made a huge commitment to improving the sanitation provision in the country’s urban areas. The Second Ho Chi Minh City Environmental Sanitation Project will bring major benefits to residents and businesses. We expect that the extensive and diverse experience of Royal HaskoningDHV will contribute to the success of this project.”
Royal HaskoningDHV has worked on a range of projects related to water and waste treatment across the globe, including an earlier project in Vietnam. Many of the projects leverage Nereda aerobic granular sludge technology, including water treatment plants in Ireland and one in Brazil, as well as a water treatment project in the Philippines.
