Authorities in Vietnam’s southern metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City have asked the World Bank (WB) to lend it $450 million to a project to improve water and environment for 1.2 million inhabitants in Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe canal. The funding is expected to enable the city to carry out the second phase of the project, which will focus on building a wastewater treatment plant with a capacity to process 480,000 cubic meters of wastewater a day. In 2003, the city conducted the first phase of the project with total investment of VND8.6 trillion ($409.5 million), which included VND5.25 trillion ($250 million) from the WB. The main work was building sewage systems. Currently, wastewater in the Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe basin is directly discharged into Saigon river. Ho Chi Minh City is facing serious water pollution as the majority of wastewater is discharged into canals and rivers without being treated properly. The city is home to more than 2,000 kilometers of canals but its wastewater treatment capacity remains poor. (Cong An Nhan Dan – People’s Security March 4 p4, www.dddn.com.vn [1] Mar 3)
