Description

Hồ Chí Minh City (HCMC) plans to achieve 100% of municipal wastewater to be treated by 2025. The city, therefore, calls for investment in constructing 12 municipal wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) between 2021 – 2025 from ODA funding sources and the private sector. This will need the total cost of approx. 41,000 billion VNĐ.

Until the end of 2020, only 13.2% of wastewater is treated in HCMC. Currently, three WWTPs are under operation including Bình Hưng with a capacity of 141,000 m3/day, Bình Hưng Hòa with 46.000 m3/day, and Tham Lương – Bến Cát, phase 1 with 131,000 m3/day. The following plants are under construction: Bình Hưng, phase 2 to increase capacity to 469,000 m3/day, Bình Hưng Hòa to increase capacity to 180, 000 m3/day. By end of this year, the city will start constructing the Nhiêu Lộc – Thị Nghè WWTP with a total cost of US$ 524 million and a capacity of 480,000 m3/day.
However, experts comment that the investment is, so far, not attractive for the private sector because the capital recovery is low. It requires a breakthrough mechanism to attract investors.

Furthermore, from 2022 HCMC will collect the fee for wastewater drainage and treatment based on the polluter pay principle. In June this year, the city issues the price list of this service. Accordingly, the fee will be 15% of clean water consumption in 2022, increased 5% each year to 30% by 2025. Presently, users pay 10% of the fee on water consumption for VAT and another 10% for environmental protection fee (this fee will be excluded in 2022 for users, who pay for wastewater drainage and treatment).

Sources & further information: “TP.HCM: Tăng tốc đầu tư nhà máy xử lý nước thải đô thị’ at https://baotainguyenmoitruong.vn  and “Tìm giải pháp đột phá xử lý nước thải” at https://www.sggp.org.vn, accessed on 24 August 2021.