Plans underway to build 44 more waste treatment plants

HCM CITY — Forty-four solid waste treatment plants will be built in the country in the period of 2010 to 2020 to reduce the use of landfills, the Ministry of Construction has said.

The ministry's Infrastructure and Technology Department said their construction would follow a road map – by 2015, 85 per cent of the waste generated in the country will be treated and by 2020, it will rise to 95 per cent.

The department also expects to recycle 60 per cent of the waste by 2015 and 85 per cent by 2020.

In 2010-15, the road map will focus on certain regions, including the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta, cities that have landfills do not meet environmental standards, and tourist hotspots.

In the next five years, the focus will turn to cities that have landfills which cannot be expanded to meet the increasing need.

The plants will be built under the build-operate-transfer and build – transfer modes with initial funds from central and local grants and soft loans from the Viet Nam Development Bank.

Major urban centres like HCM City face a shortage of land for use as fills and building treatment plants. The city Department of Natural Resources and Environment said 1,100 companies and factories in the city and neighbouring provinces churn out 600 tonnes of hazardous waste every day.

This exceeds the capacity of the city's 40 waste transport companies and 12 treatment businesses.

One more treatment plant is coming up in Hoc Mon District but its capacity will be only 21 tonnes a day.

Many plants like the Hiep Phuoc Thermoelectric Plant and DL International Ltd Co. in District 7 illegally bury hazardous wastes on their premises. The plant and company blamed their action on the high costs of treating dangerous waste.

In a discovery last year, many treatment plants were found illegally filling untreated hazardous wastes. These included the Urban Environment Company, Sao Mai Xanh, Tan Duc Thao, and Tung Nguyen companies.

Many treatment companies called for support from the Government in terms of technology transfer and funds.

The city is clearing a 100-ha site in Cu Chi District's Tay Bac Zone for building several waste-treatment plants.

Analysts said the failure in the last two years to slap environment fees on businesses discharging waste has meant the loss of an opportunity to develop the waste treatment regime. — VNS