Finns help Vietnam upgrade water services
By Sami Sillanpää in Hanoi/Haiphong
The drains were clogged with sludge, and open canals reeked with sewage. At high tide the sea flooded onto the city streets.
In a couple of years things have started to improve in the city of Haiphong on the east coast of Vietnam.
A flood pumping station is being built on the outskirts of the city of more than half a million people. The renewed drainage network leads treated waste water into the canals, which have been cleaned up, and fitted with embankments.
"People are really very satisfied. Haiphong has received very much support from Finland" says Do Trong Dat, head of the city’s sewage service.
Vietnam's water and sewage network was built during the French colonial period. Wars damaged the networks, and the Communists had not managed to improve matters since 1975.
Now that Vietnam is opening up to the market economy, the infrastructure is also being rapidly upgraded.
The largest financiers are the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank. Finland has supported Vietnamese water projects for more than 20 years out of its development cooperation funding.
"This is a very big market. Billions of dollars", says administrative consultant Hannu Kokko from the capital Hanoi.
Kokko serves as a link between the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Vietnamese government, as well as companies that are implementing the projects. Now a phase is underway in which Finland is financing the water system of ten small cities and the sewage management of six.
Finns have been working for many years as consultants in both Finnish projects, and those financed by others. In addition to Famboll and Finnconsult, companies operating in Vietnam include Plancenter, Pöyry Environment, as well as a number of smaller companies.
Finland’s first project was the repair of Hanoi's water system. The massive effort began in 1985 and did not end until 2001. Now people in Hanoi talk about "Finland water".
The water supply of the coastal city of Haiphong has also been developed with Finnish help.
When people have started getting clean water, the focus has started to shift to getting rid of used water.
"Vietnam has 700 larger urban centres. Most of them lack water services and drainage. There are another 700 smaller towns, and they also do not have anything", Kokko explains.
Antti Nykänen has diagrams of the new sewage system of Haiphong on the wall of his office. The other wall has pictures of Finnish landscapes.
Plans for the city include a couple of artificial lakes, pumping stations, locks, and more than 50 kilometres of new sewer pipes. The job of Nykänen’s company Anycon is to monitor progress of the projects with his partners.
Nykänen has been involved with Vietnamese water projects for 16 years, working for various companies. He returned to Finland at one point, but in 2002 he decided to set up his own consultant’s firm and returned to Vietnam.
"There is interesting work available here. And the projects are really very big."
The World Bank is financing the construction of the sewage network to the tune of EUR 50 million, and Finland is putting about EUR five million into supervision of the construction.
Soon projects that are to be financed with a Japanese loan of EUR 1.5 billion will be open for bidding. They include the expansion of the Haiphong sewers.
"Competition is intense and international. Competing for the projects are all of the world’s big consultants", Nykänen says. "We must be on site. There is no point in imagining that one could make a bid without getting to know the Vietnamese side."
Finnish experts are already familiar in Haiphong. There is a part of the city that is known as the "Finland Village", where dozens of advisors live.
"When the first Finnish experts came in 1990 it was very strange. We did not know anything about Finland. Some children threw stones at the Finns", says Vu Hong Duong, deputy manager of the Haiphong water works.
The change in attitudes is an indication of the development of all of Vietnam. During the period of socialist economic planning, the water and sewage systems were inefficient state enterprises.
In Haiphong half of the water was lost to leakage. Networks were not maintained. Water was almost free to consumers, so no efforts were made to conserve it.
Now homes have water metres, and billing is determined by use. The bills also include a sewage fee. "Finnish ideas", Vu says.
Thanks to the changes, the water utility is a profit-making business and the sewage system requires only a one-fifth subsidy from the city. There is enough pressure in the pipes for the water to rise up to the top floors of apartment buildings.
"The Haiphong water system is among the best in the country now. We are an example to others", Vu says.
The aim of Finnish development cooperation in Vietnam has been to reduce poverty.
For Finnish consultants who have been involved for several years, the water projects of Vietnam have become a life’s work.
"I don’t know if I will ever leave. Now I know of five big projects for 2008 that I could be involved in", Antti Nykänen says.
Seppo Havia, the first Finn involved in the Hanoi water project in 1985, returned to Vietnam again in September.
"I had already retired", said Havia at the construction site of an artificial lake in Haiphong. "Then Antti called and asked if I would join this project. Of course I had to, after having done these things all my life."
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 27.11.2006
SAMI SILLANPÄÄ / Helsingin Sanomat
sami.sillanpaa@hs.fi
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| 5.12.2006 - THIS WEEK |
 Finns help Vietnam upgrade water services
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