Mr. Hong Dinh Tran
Vice Deputy Director, Danang Construction Service, Vietnam

1. The City

Danang is one of the five largest cities of Vietnam. It is located in the center of the country. Its urban land area is increasing continuously, and the population at the end of 2006 had grown rapidly to 799,400.

Danang’s drainage system is used for rain water, domestic and industrial waste water. The network’s total length is about 290 kilometers. Most of the drainage ditch structure is box-ditches built from rocks, covered by reinforced concrete plate. The new residential areas have their own sufficient infrastructure, including the sector drainage system. Part of the collected wastewater is taken back to wastewater treatment stations, and the remainder flows to pools, rivers and the Eastern Sea.

Hoa Cuong wastewater treatment station

Flooding often happens in many areas of Danang city when there is heavy and long rain. This has caused traffic obstruction, damage and environmental pollution, especially to beaches.

Supplementary construction is necessary to complete the boundary drainage systems and pumping stations to collect wastewater out of the old urban area.

Other priorities include investment and building of wastewater collection systems in newly developed areas, the construction of a rain-water drainage canal axis that will be combined with the main wastewater drainage, and the completion of the existing wastewater drainage system to meet the demand and standard. Necessary too are investment in the building of the concentrated wastewater drainage system for the newly developed areas, and the building of wastewater collection and treatment systems for the expected developed urban areas.

Danang is a rapidly growing city with an environment and population attractive to new industries and to tourist facilities. The city government is working both to attract industries and services to provide jobs for the citizens, and to provide its population with a good urban infrastructure. In its overall urban plan, certain areas have been designated for industries and tourist facilities. As investment comes to the city to develop these areas, it is sometimes necessary to relocate part of the population to make room for the new facilities. In these cases, people are relocated to specific areas, designed for residential use. The government places these relocation areas under the control of an “investment organization,” which will be responsible for planning the site and providing the necessary urban infrastructure. One aspect of that infrastructure is the central waste water treatment system.

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2. The Proposed Action Plan

To make this process more efficient and effective, this action plan will select one pilot resettlement area and design an appropriate central waste water treatment system for it. As that pilot system is tested and assessed, it will be presented as a blueprint for other resettlement areas in the future. This will ensure that the resettlement areas have adequate sanitation and do not contribute to urban pollution.

Overall Goal:

Raising people’s awareness on the importance of minimizing environmental pollution caused by domestic waste water.

Target Population:

All people in the City.

Objective:

Conduct an experimental project in a residential district, to collect domestic wastewater from households and send it to a common city sewage system, in order to minimize land pollution and contamination of ground water.

Target Groups:

Households inside the resettlement area, after the city’s acquisition of land for social economic projects.

Key Steps:

1. Report to Supervisor on results of workshop, best practices and experiences from other cities.
2. Consult with Supervisor/colleagues about the Action Plan.
3. Consult with investment owners of some resettlement areas.
4. Select one resettlement area for experimental project.
5. Conduct studies on sample designs.
6. Consult with related technical agencies for technical assistance.
7. Consult with DaNang University.
8. Consult with representatives of the community.
9. Provide technical information to beneficiaries and agencies/ organizations involved in designing and construction.
10. Implement the construction.
11. Monitor the implementation.
12. Evaluate the result of implementation and draw experience/ lessons learnt.
13. Information/ Advocacy campaign to the public (through mass media, advocacy to community groups, delivering leaflets/brochures).
14. Provide sample designs to the public on request.

Time Frame: June 2007 - February 2009