VietNamNet Bridge - Rapid urbanization, higher living standards, large volume of waste and rapid increase in the number of hospitals have all made Vietnam a potential market for foreign investors to develop waste treatment projects.

Saku Liuksia, manager of the waste-to-energy and bio-energy program at the Finnish export and investment promotion agency Finpro, who attended VietWater 2016, said Finnish companies have a great interest in cooperating with Vietnam to develop the projects on waste treatment and sewage projects and transfer technologies to Vietnam.

He said Vietnam has great potential to develop projects on turning waste into energy and many Finnish companies are looking for Vietnamese partners.

Rapid urbanization, higher living standards, large volume of waste and rapid increase in the number of hospitals have all made Vietnam a potential market for foreign investors to develop waste treatment projects.

A report shows that waste treatment is one of the biggest challenges for Vietnam. 

The total volume of waste in urban areas is estimated at 38,000 tons a day, with 85 percent collected and carried to landfills. Most of the waste is dumped, while 70 percent of landfills don’t meet sanitary requirements.

The big volume of waste is a huge source of raw materials to generate biogas for electricity generation. 

Therefore, some countries are considering prohibiting the dumping of organic waste, and using more modern technologies to treat waste. In Finland, for example, 40 percent of waste is treated to generate power. 

However, Nguyen Huy Nga, former director of the Ministry of Health’s Environment Management Agency, noted that in Vietnam, the waste and wastewater treatment market remains unexploited. 

Many waste treatment plants have been built, but many of them are working ineffectively. Some of them cause pollution. 

Most recently, local newspapers reported that it was the Da Phuoc Waste Treatment Plant, using US technology, which caused a bad odor in the southern part of HCM City.

The problems turned out to be great opportunities for foreign companies, which have modern and suitable environmentally friendly technologies, to approach the Vietnamese market.

Experts also pointed out that Vietnam is a potential market for water treatment projects as it is one of the countries to suffer most heavily from climate change with degradation of natural water quality.

Phan Thi My Linh, Deputy Minister of Construction, said water and energy are the two important sectors which have direct impact on economic branches, social welfare and the environment. 

Therefore, Vietnam is promoting the call for investments into two sectors, hoping that 100 percent of urbanites will have clean water by 2025. 

It also strives to increase the proportion of renewable energy to 5 percent by 2020 and 11 percent by 2050.