ODA efficiency for sustainable development

Making the efficient use of ODA sponsored by Finnish government, Binh Duong province for the third time won the agreement with Finnish government to continue the preferential sponsorship to implement the construction of systematic factory to collect daily waste water in Ben Cat town, contributing to green developmental targets and sustainability of the province for the time to come.

Mai Hung Dung (on the right) receives Maddam Maija Seppala – the Councellor of developmental policies under Finnish Ambassy to Hanoi, on her working visit to Binh Duong province

The yielding investments

The flashback to 11 years ago was the agreement made by Finnish government to extend preferential loans (ODA) to construct the Project of South Binh Duong Wastewater Treatment Complex – the first ever ODA sponsored project of the province at the time. BIWASE was designated to carry out the tasks which by November 2004, the project saw the groundbreaking to initiate the constructions on 75 hectares of land to collect and treat daily wastes in a sanitation project of preliminary capacity of 200 tons a day.

By 2017, the Finnish continued to sponsor the second stage of the project to additionally expand 100 hectares of land to be able to collect up to 1,000 tons a day and treat up to 150 tons a day of industrial and hazardous wastes along with recycling processes of which daily wastes are turned into compost or recycling slug bricks for construction. Ngo Chi Thang – Deputy Director of a waste treatment branch of BIWASE, informed of the capacity of treating about 2,500 tons of daily wastes and to turn up to 200 tons into compost along with other recycled products bringing considerate benefits to local environment protection.

By March 2023, Binh Duong province resumed to call for preferential ODA from the Finnish government to construct a factory with a system of collecting and treating  daily wastewater in Ben Cat town, which by May 2023, was agreed by the sponsor to enable  the project.

Nguyen Thi Thu Van – Director of Wastewater Specialized Project of Binh Duong province, informed that the project is expected to be capable of concentrated treatment of 15,000 cubic meters a day in the first stage and 45,000 cubic meters a day in the future. The novel construction is expected to be on about 55 kilometers of collecting pipes to transfer the wastewater and about 5 kilometers of pressurized pipes to be connected to over 10,400 households locally with expectation to directly benefit about 131,000 locals and 290,000 others indirectly.

Environment protection projects prioritized

Mai Hung Dung, Standing Member of the provincial Party Committee, Standing Deputy Chairman of the provincial People's Committee, said that the Finnish government's agreement to allow Binh Duong to receive ODA loans will contribute positively to sanitation, environment and protect water resources in the area.

"Binh Duong is a fast-growing locality in the point of view to ensure green growth with constant attention to environmental protection, waste and wastewater treatment in industrial parks and urban arreas. As a result, the environment in the province is always guaranteed. Binh Duong has effectively used the official development assistance (ODA) of the government of Finland to promote waste and wastewater treatment,"said Mai Hung Dung.

At the recent meeting with Maddam Maija Seppala – the Councellor of developmental policies under Finnish Ambassy to Hanoi on her working visit to Binh Duong province, Mai Hung Dung affirmed that the province's sustainable development orientation is to associate the goal of green growth with environmental protection. Therefore, the Finnish Government's continued approval of the policy of loan financing for the project of collecting and treating domestic wastewater in Ben Cat town has great significance to help the province have a second urban area with a standard domestic wastewater treatment system.

Talking to reporters, Maija Seppalasaid that in 50 years of establishing diplomatic relations between the Governments of Finland and Vietnam there have been myriad achievements with important cooperation projects in the fields, especifically, projects in the field of water, environmental sanitation, forest protection as well as in the field of innovation.

According to Maija Seppala, now that both countries are transitioning to a new period of cooperation, increasing trade and investment, Finnish businesses are ready to exchange and provide new technologies to Vietnam and promote investment in Vietnam in the coming time. The Finnish government has had a very successful cooperation with Binh Duong province in the field of solid waste treatment.

“We also visited the South Binh Duong Waste Treatment Complex and highly appreciated the investment efficiency and solid waste treatment efficiency of Binh Duong province to protect the environment. Following the cooperation in solid waste treatment between Finland and Binh Duong province, now the two sides continue to embark on wastewater treatment," added Maija Seppala.

Up to now, the Finnish Government has sponsored Binh Duong province in 2 projects, which is the Construction of the South Binh Duong Waste Treatment Complex (Stage 1) completed in 2013 with an investment value of more than Euro 7 ,1 million, which, in 2017, continued to Stage 2 with a loan value of more than Euro 6.1 million. It is known that the Finnish Government's public investment credit (PIF) program supports public sector investment projects in developing countries to bring about social and environmental benefits as long as the participating projects are consistent with the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals.

Reported by Minh Duy – Translated by Vi Bao