Businessman David Duong: I still want to continue investing in Vietnam

Businessman David Duong, Chairman of the Board of Directors and General Director of California Waste Solutions (CWS) and Vietnam Waste Solutions Company Limited (VWS)

*Reporter: First of all, congratulations. It is known that you are the only businessman among the 15 most influential leaders in Silicon Valley (California, USA) who has just been recognized. Can you share more about the above information?

Entrepreneur David Duong: I have had many opportunities to be honored, but this is the first time I have been honored as one of the influential people in Silicon Valley. I am very happy to be the only entrepreneur because most of them are politicians . This proves that the Vietnamese community in Silicon Valley has really grown in recent years, with candidates starting to become politicians and entrepreneurs in the high-tech sector.

To be recognized, leaders must have made significant contributions to the community. Every year, San Jose Spotlight collects information about influential people in the Asian American community. The scope of consideration is in Silicon Valley - a high-tech hub.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, I founded the Vietnamese American Business Association (VABA). VABA has a role in strengthening cooperation between Vietnamese, Asian and non-Asian leaders in business, administrative, labor and academic activities. VABA started to operate strongly after the Covid-19 pandemic and is growing strongly. As President of VABA, I called on and attracted politicians, some large banks and businesses to join. Therefore, when any business in VABA encounters difficulties in working with local authorities, VABA will support and create conditions to help that business.

+ Reporter: Can you tell us more about some of the outstanding activities in CWS's business plan recently?

Entrepreneur David Duong: I just attended Waste Expo 2024 - Technology Exhibition on Water and Waste Collection and Treatment. From now until 2035, California State regulations require that all garbage collection vehicles must run on electricity. Currently, CWS Company has a fleet of vehicles running on clean energy, compressed liquid gas (CNG), but I still decided to invest in a new fleet of vehicles running entirely on electricity.

I plan that CWS will replace the entire fleet of vehicles currently in use in Oakland City. It is possible to invest in 55 new electric vehicles, each vehicle costing about $730,000. CWS is negotiating a contract with the vehicle manufacturer, including purchasing new vehicles and reselling old vehicles at purchase price after 5 years of use.

*Reporter: What strategies are considered the focus of CWS, sir?

Entrepreneur David Duong: I am building a pulp mill at the Oakland port using the most modern technology. That is using robots and AI. I expect this pulp mill to be 95% automated.

CWS's key strategy in 2024 is to change the technology at two new factories in Oakland and San Jose. Here, waste goes in and products go out, without having to go through preliminary processing stages. In the period of 2024-2025, we plan to inaugurate these two factories. The main tasks of the two factories are to collect, filter, recycle, produce available raw materials and produce products. Each factory has a capacity of about 1,500 tons/day, with an investment cost of about 240-250 million USD.

In addition, I am also nurturing many other projects such as land to build a golf course on an area of ​​170 hectares and buying an additional 800 hectares of land next to the golf course to build 2,800 houses. Of which, I will reserve 30 - 35% of the houses for Vietnamese investors when they need a green card to enter the US. The plan is to have full services here to serve the needs of entertainment, recreation, etc. The project produces houses from containers for the homeless; the project builds 24 houses on a hill in Oakland City. These will be "smart houses", do not need electricity or water but will regenerate electricity and water for use. The selling price of each house is expected to be from 8-15 million USD.

3D perspective of the bridge leading to Long An Green Environment Technology Park

*Reporter: What are the current plans for the project in Vietnam, specifically VWS Company, sir?

Businessman David Duong: Every day, the Da Phuoc Waste Treatment Complex (Da Phuoc Commune, Binh Chanh District, Ho Chi Minh City) under VWS Company receives and processes about 6,000 - 6,500 tons of waste for Ho Chi Minh City using American sanitary landfill technology. The amount of waste that VWS Company processes every day accounts for about 70% of the total daily waste of Ho Chi Minh City. An important part of VWS Company's waste treatment is recycling waste into products such as compost, electricity generation, etc.

When Ho Chi Minh City had a policy of innovating waste treatment technology to reduce the landfill rate, VWS Company coordinated with domestic and foreign experts to plan to build a waste-to-energy incineration plant. Accordingly, the capacity of the waste-to-energy incineration plant is expected to be about 3,000 tons of waste/day. This is the amount of waste remaining after being sorted for recycling into organic fertilizer. The total investment capital for the project is estimated at about 420-750 million USD. At the same time, VWS Company also implemented a project to compost waste and collect gas to generate electricity at the landfill site, which has begun operation and is being monitored by the technical department.

In addition, the Da Phuoc Waste Treatment Complex is currently receiving a total of 25-26 million tons of waste. While the maximum capacity of the landfill is up to 36 million tons. Therefore, the Da Phuoc Waste Treatment Complex can still receive more waste. The operating license of the Da Phuoc landfill is valid until 2055. Currently, VWS Company has submitted a proposal to change the waste incineration technology to generate electricity to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee and I hope the city will soon approve it so that the company can deploy and implement it.

*Reporter: How about the Long An Green Environment Technology Park project, can you tell us more?

Businessman David Duong: Regarding the Green Environment Technology Park project in Long An province, I am still waiting for the provincial government to allow the construction of a waste production and sorting plant. I think that Vietnam needs large projects to create more jobs for workers. If Long An province requests a change in technology or other requirements, we will try to meet them because I want to continue investing in projects here. Previously, also in this project, Vietnam-Long An Waste Treatment Joint Stock Company (VWS-LA) invested billions of VND to expand and upgrade the road system, lighting system as well as train in fire prevention and fighting to contribute to ensuring local security and order./.

On June 21, businessman David Duong sent his best wishes to the leaders, reporters, editors, and staff of press and media agencies. He wished journalists good, practical, and in-depth articles about people's lives. At the same time, he hoped that the press would continue to convey information honestly, especially in removing difficulties for investors regarding policies, and taking the lead in bringing information to authorities; thereby contributing to building a strong and developed homeland.

Thanh Nga

Source: https://baolongan.vn/doanh-nhan-david-duong-toi-van-muon-tiep-tuc-dau-tu-o-viet-nam-a178218.html