The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has pledged to grant $3 million for a waste treatment research project to help Vietnam’s Chi Minh City to tap electricity from aquaculture waste. The project will be carried out by HCM City-based National University and Kyushu University for 60 months starting from April 2015 to March 2020, the Voice of Vietnam Radio reported. Investors hesitate to invest in waste-to-power plants in Vietnam due to the absence of a regulatory framework and the low purchase prices of electricity in the country, foreign experts said. The $30 million waste-to-power project in Hanoi, which is a joint venture of Japan’s Hitachi Zosen Company and Hanoi Urban Environment Company, is the only one being developed so far. The volume of industrial solid waste discharged in Vietnam is estimated at more than 13,000 tons per day. Most of the industrial waste mainly comes from light, chemical and metallurgy industries; traditional craft villages; and illegally imported scraps. (vov.vn Aug 15)
