VietNamNet Bridge - Vietwater 2016, the international exhibition on water supply & drainage, filtration and waste water treatment, to be held in November, is expected to attract 400 businesses from 38 countries.

According to the Ministry of Construction (MOC), Vietnam needs $10 billion for water supply and drainage solutions in urban areas for the next five years.

Vietnam’s current population growth rate is 2 percent per annum, which means that it would have 44 million urban residents by 2020.

“This will put hard pressure on the water supply and drainage system in the context of decreased ODA, scant budget and difficulties in mobilizing capital for water supply and drainage projects,” said Cao Lai Quang, chair of the Vietnam Water Supply & Drainage Association.

Analysts commented that the water drainage sector has a lot of potential, but there are barriers which discourage investors. At least 10 percent of the tap water price is paid for for environmental protection.

According to Nguyen Hong Tien, an MOC senior official, people do not want to pay for water drainage services after paying 10 percent for environmental protection fee.

As a result, a lot of waste water treatment plans have been left unused.

Meanwhile, the profits expected in the waste water treatment sector are believed to be unattractive to investors. The current tap water price is VND6,000 per cubic meter, which means that the environmental protection fee is VND600 per cubic meter. 

Vietnam needs $10 billion for water supply and drainage solutions in urban areas for the next five years.

In other countries, the water drainage service fee is 1.5-2.5 times higher than the water supply service fee, which promises higher profits for investors.

Therefore, MOC believes that it is necessary to reconsider the fixed 10 percent of water price paid for environmental protection expenses in order to persuade investors to inject money into the field.

In the past, Vietnam focused on calling for investments to build waste water treatment plants. But now, it also needs to improve the quality of the water drainage system to catch investors’ attention.

Of the 23 large-scale projects on waste water treatment Vietnam has announced, most are completely new projects, not projects on improving existing plants. 

A group of US businesses, including nine water companies, came to Vietnam recently. However, they only offered waste water treatment technologies and training, but did not show interest in setting up plants in Vietnam.

Water supply is more attractive to investors, who have found that only 60 percent of urban residents can get clean water.


Thanh Lich