Proposals to build wastewater treatment plants in Ho Chi Minh City

Continuously in May and June 2025, the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee received investment proposals for a wastewater treatment plant project under the public-private partnership (PPP) model, with a total investment capital of thousands of billions of VND.

Continuous project proposals

Recently, REE Clean Water Company Limited (under REE Group) sent a document to the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee proposing to invest in the Wastewater Treatment Plant Project in the West of Ho Chi Minh City at the existing Binh Hung Hoa Wastewater Treatment Plant, under the PPP method, BOT or BLT contract. The project is divided into 2 phases, of which phase I has a treatment capacity of 260,000 m3/day, an investment of about 4,200 billion VND, and a construction period of about 2 years.

The enterprise proposed that the City People's Committee allow REE Clean Water Company Limited to use its own funds to prepare the Pre-Feasibility Study Report (Pre FS) and Feasibility Study Report (FS) according to the provisions of Articles 22 and 28 of Decree 35/2021/ND-CP to serve as a basis for selecting investors according to regulations.

“Immediately after the project is approved, we commit to seriously and promptly implementing the correct procedures, progress and quality in preparing Pre FS and FS; fully cooperating with state management agencies in the process of project appraisal, approval and implementation,” the project proposal enterprise stated.

Previously, in mid-May 2025, the joint venture of Phu Dien Construction and Trading Investment Joint Stock Company - SFC Environmental Development Investment Joint Stock Company proposed to build the Tan Hoa - Lo Gom Basin Wastewater Treatment Plant under the PPP method. The project has a scale of 300,000 m3/day, with a land use area of ​​about 6 hectares on the total planned area.

The consortium of investors proposed to invest in the form of BOT, a type of BOT contract, with a total investment of 3,323 billion VND. After completing the project, the investor will operate and recover capital and profits within 14 years and 8 months, then hand over the project to the City for continued use.

In addition to the above project, the Investor Consortium also proposed to be assigned to prepare a Pre-Feasibility Study Report for the Investment Project to build a wastewater collection system and treatment plant in the South Saigon basin.

Many advantages in investing in wastewater treatment sector

According to the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Construction, the city currently plans to build six new wastewater treatment plants and upgrade one project, with a total investment of more than VND31,600 billion. In the context of limited budget capital, the city prioritizes calling for private enterprises to invest under the PPP method.

Vice Chairman of the Ho Chi Minh City People's Committee Bui Xuan Cuong emphasized that Ho Chi Minh City always considers environmental protection, wastewater collection and treatment, and improving living conditions for people living along and on canals as key tasks in the sustainable urban development strategy. The city will create favorable conditions for businesses to invest in this field, contributing to improving the quality of the environment and people's lives.

In fact, in recent times in Ho Chi Minh City, the implementation of projects using ODA capital has many limitations such as long preparation time, low disbursement rate and the need to arrange large counterpart funds. Meanwhile, the budget capital is having to prioritize many other areas, making investment in wastewater treatment plants encounter many difficulties.

Furthermore, as Vietnam enters the middle-income development stage, access to ODA loans is decreasing, average loan interest rates are increasing, and exchange rate risks are higher. Therefore, PPP becomes an effective investment method to mobilize social capital, share risks, and improve the efficiency of public investment.

Investing in wastewater treatment plants under the PPP model has become attractive to investors because the National Assembly has approved amendments and supplements to a number of articles of the Law on Planning, the Law on Investment, the Law on PPP Investment, and the Law on Bidding. The amendments have reduced cumbersome procedures and allowed localities to flexibly pay investors in many forms such as deferred payment by budget money, payment by land, etc.

Source: https://baodautu.vn/don-dap-de-xuat-xay-dung-nha-may-xu-ly-nuoc-thai-o-tphcm-d321307.html