JICA supports trenchless sewerage pipe rehabilitation in Ho Chi Minh City

JICA will provide aid for the Trenchless Sewerage Pipe Rehabilitation project of the municipal city

On the morning of February 21, JICA Vietnam Office’s chief representative Konaka Tetsuo and Ho Chi Minh City People’s Committee Vice Chairman Vo Van Hoan signed the grant agreement on the “Project for Trenchless Sewerage Pipe Rehabilitation in Ho Chi Minh City”.

The signing was witnessed by Japanese Ambassador to Vietnam Umeda Kunio, city People's Committee Chairman Nguyen Thanh Phong, and representatives of the Japanese Consulate General in Ho Chi Minh City, local departments, JICA, and concerned agencies.

The grant, valued at JPY1.882 billion ($16.84 million) and committed by the Government of Japan in 2018, will be used to improve drainage capacity and load-bearing capacity with the rehabilitation of ageing drainage and sewer pipes in Ho Chi Minh City.

The rehabilitation works will be carried out in 24 months by experienced Japanese companies, under the supervision of a competent Japanese consultant. It is scheduled to be completed in December 2023.

The city’s rapid urban growth requires the urgent development of environmental infrastructure, in tandem with meeting the demand for safe water supply and water environment protection. While the city is making tremendous efforts in building a new sewerage system which includes wastewater treatment plant and piping network to improve the water environment, the rehabilitation of the old sewer pipes built in the French colonial time is a great challenge in the context of heavy traffic jams, especially in the downtown (districts 1 and 3).

Following the Master Plan (JICA, 1999), the Ho Chi Minh City Water Environment Improvement Project in Tau Hu-Ben Nghe river basins (phase I) was implemented, providing a wastewater treatment plant with the daily capacity of 141,000 cubic metres and improving the drainage capacity in Tau Hu and Ben Nghe canals as well as constructing new interceptors and sewer pipes.

The second phase of the project is scheduled to be completed in 2022, adding a new wastewater treatment plant with the daily capacity of 330,000cu.m and interceptors and sewer pipes in the Doi-Te River basin.