HCM City asks PM to approve Thu Duc water plant

HCM City is seeking the prime minister’s early authorisation of a water treatment plant in Thu Duc District to be developed as a build-operate-own project. According to yesterday’s submission, the Thu Duc Treatment Plant will take 28 months to build and be able to supply more than 300,000 cubic meters of water a day.
Thu Duc Water BOO Corp is the proposed developer and is currently in talks with Saigon Water Supply Co.
Tran Dinh Phu, deputy director of the HCM City Service of Communications and Public Works, told the Daily yesterday that the prime minister’s authorisation was a legal necessity before any contract could be signed.
“We might let Saigon Water Supply Co sign a contract with the developer,” Phu added.
Saigon Water deputy director Bui Si Hoang said but there were still several sticking points in the contract negotiations, especially the price that his company would pay for water from the Thu Duc plant.
He added that the city government hoped to get the PM’s approval by the end of June so that construction could begin in September.
Last November a six-strong Vietnamese consortium won the right to build a US$100 million water plant in HCM City. Its members are involved in finance, construction, equipment supply, water treatment and real estate.
“In the contract, Saigon Water Supply Co will agree to buy all the plant’s output. At this stage the proposed buying price is 16 US cents per cubic metre for the first 10 years,” Phu said.
His company is insisting that strikes be outlawed at the Thu Duc plant. “If the workers were to go on strike, the city government would have to take over the plant to maintain water supplies,” Hoang said.
He added that his company had until September to clear the project site, after which the land would be transferred to the developer.
Besides the treatment plant itself, the project involves building two pumping stations, one for untreated water and one for treated water, as well as a 26.2kilometerpipeline.
Thu Duc Water BOO Corp was set up at the end of2004 by the HCM City Infrastructure Investment Joint Stock Company, the HCM City Investment Fund for Urban Development (HIFU), general Construction Corp 1, Refrigeration and Electrical Engineering Corp., Water and Environment Joint-Stock Co (Waco) and Thu Duc House Development Co.
Saigon Water Supply Co provides the city with around 1.1 million cubic meters of treated water a day. Most of it comes from the existing Thu Duc plant and the Tan Hiep Water Plant in Hoc Mon District.

 

Category: Business