Districts are set to ooze class

The Yen So lake, which receives more than 50 per cent of Hanoi’s waste water, has been a dark stain on the city’s environment

Malaysia’s Gamuda Berhard has proposed to pour $960 million into a project to set up a sewerage treatment system, modern park and urban development area.
The official signing ceremony for the in-principle Yen So park development agreement was inked between the committee and Gamuda last week.
Some $400 million will be spent first to implement the sewerage treatment system, which is expected to start in October.
Outgoing Hanoi Mayor Nguyen Quoc Trieu said the project was a result of calling on mobilising non-state investment sources into infrastructure development.
“The park and the sewerage treatment system will be a significant construction project to improve the environment of Hanoi’s south and improve the living standards of people there,” said Trieu.
The polluted Yen So lake has been receiving more than 50 per cent of the city’s sewerage water which is released into the Red River without treatment.
“Our proposal is to set up a completed treatment system which will improve the quality of the whole area and develop the surrounding area into a modern park,” said Dato Lin Yun Ling, Gamuda Berhard general director.
The sewerage system will have the treatment capacity of 190,000 cubic metres of waste water per day, equivalent to a half of the city’s sewerage volume. The system will be transferred to the committee after one year’s operation.
After its construction, Gamuda wants to turn the 146 hectare Yen So park into an education, culture and park multi-functional area.
High-end office buildings, hotels, a convention centre, car parks, restaurants, apartment buildings, trading and entertainment centres will be set up on a site of 182 hectares.
“In the coming years this project will significantly contribute to setting up a new economic centre for Hanoi’s south, increasing real estate values, investment attraction, creating jobs and improving local people’s living standards,” Ling said.
Trieu said Gamuda would complete its initial planning by October and the sewerage system and Yen So park were expected to be finished in 2010.
Gamuda Berhard is Malaysia’s leading construction and township development company and has different projects in Taiwan, Laos, Qatar and Bahrain.