Provincial People's Committee leaders worked with the French Development Agency (AFD) on the project to bring fresh water to the downstream area of ​​Kim Son.

On November 19, Comrade Nguyen Cao Son, Provincial Party Committee member, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee chaired a working session with the French Development Agency (AFD) on the project "Improving infrastructure to bring fresh water to the downstream area of ​​Kim Son district to serve socio-economic development and adapt to climate change".

Working scene.

Attending the working session were leaders of departments, branches and local representatives within the project scope.

On behalf of the French Development Agency (AFD), the working session was attended by: Ms. Huihui Zhou, Environmental and Social Expert of the AFD Regional Office in Bangkok as Head of the Delegation; Mr. Julien Seillan, Director of AFD in Vietnam; Mr. Paul Koblan-Huberson, Coordinator of the WARM Fund; experts and project staff.

The project "Improving the infrastructure to bring fresh water to the downstream of Kim Son district to serve socio -economic development in response to climate change" was approved by the Prime Minister in Decision No. 972/QD-TTg dated May 19, 2025, the Provincial People's Committee approved the investment policy in Decision No. 734/QD-UBND dated June 27, 2025, including two components: building infrastructure to adapt to climate change and providing technical support to improve capacity for sustainable development. The investment scale includes dredging and embanking the 26.5 km long Ca Mau River to bring fresh water to the regulating lake; building a water reservoir with an area of ​​about 50 hectares and 3.2 km of operating roads.

The total investment of the project is 1,482,471 billion VND, of which ODA loan capital accounts for more than 972 billion VND; implementation period is from 2025-2028, located in the communes of Yen Tu, Yen Mac, Lai Thanh, Dinh Hoa, Binh Minh, Kim Dong.

The investor has selected consulting units to prepare feasibility study reports and environmental impact assessments; is consulting with the community in 4/6 communes, striving to complete the approval of feasibility study reports and environmental impact assessments before December 15, 2025. Some initial difficulties were raised at the conference, notably the failure to determine the location to receive about 1.5 million m³ of generated waste volume.

Representative of the French Development Agency (AFD) spoke at the meeting.

AFD representatives highly appreciated Ninh Binh province's proactiveness and seriousness in implementing the items according to the set schedule. As a sponsor, the AFD working group requested the province to clarify a number of contents to serve as reference for initial results, including: feasibility study report, environmental impact assessment results; connection between current infrastructure and future infrastructure development orientation; freshwater use target after the project is completed. The working group also emphasized the requirement to comprehensively assess social impacts, ensure people have fair access and benefit widely; promptly implement community consultation to create consensus...

AFD experts recommend focusing on gender impact assessment, especially solutions to reduce labor burden and improve the lives of rural women; assessing climate adaptability; ensuring the project is suitable for coastal ecology and people's production practices; and paying attention to environmental reconstruction plans after the project comes into operation.

After listening to the opinions of the AFD Working Group, representatives of departments and branches clarified the contents proposed by the sponsor, and also explained further issues related to the ecological characteristics of the project area, farming practices, social and gender impact assessment indicators, climate change adaptation capacity and suitable waste disposal location arrangement plans.

Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Cao Son spoke at the meeting.

Speaking at the working session, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Nguyen Cao Son sincerely thanked the AFD working group for their attention and repeated surveys of the project to accurately assess the project's impact factors, thereby deciding to fund the project implementation, serving the fight against climate change, bringing great benefits to Ninh Binh province.

He affirmed that the projects funded by AFD for Ninh Binh province have effectively supported the province in implementing the strategy of developing towards the sea, improving the environment and helping people stabilize their livelihoods. Immediately after the working session, the Provincial Civil and Industrial Construction Investment Management Board; relevant departments and branches fully accepted the opinions of the AFD working group and provided full documents and records as requested by the group. Regarding the group's requests to report on environmental and social issues, the province will direct responsible units to fully explain in the environmental impact assessment report. The Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee hopes that AFD will continue to pay attention to the project and soon complete the procedures according to regulations to ensure project progress.

Nguyen Thom-Anh Tuan

Source: https://baoninhbinh.org.vn/ubnd-tinh-lam-viec-voi-co-quan-phat-trien-phap-afd-ve-du-an-dua-nuoc-ngot-xuong-251119183249612.html