HCM City (VNA) – Ho Chi Minh City is undergreat pressure to handle an increasing amount of domestic waste as well ashazardous medical and industrial waste, according to the municipal Departmentof Planning and Investment.

The rapid increase in population in the city, by anestimated 200,000 a year, is driving demand for investment in waste treatmentfacilities, it said.

It said a decade ago, 6,000 – 6,500 tonnes of domestic wastegenerated daily, but this has now increased to 9,000 – 12,000 tonnes, sometimes15,000 tonnes.

Construction waste has increased from 5000 tonnes to 1,500tonnes, hazardous waste from 150 tonnes to nearly 500 tonnes, and medical wastefrom 13 tonnes to nearly 100 tonnes.

Huynh Minh Nhut, director of the HCM City Urban EnvironmentCompany Limited, said these figures only represent the waste being collectedand processed by waste treatment companies.

While there still a large volume of industrial and medicalwaste from facilities secretly discharged into the environment unknown to theauthorities.

According to the Department of Natural Resources andEnvironment (DNRE), solid waste treatment facilities remain meagre.

Currently, the main domestic solid waste treatment facilityfor the city is Da Phuoc, which handles around 70 percent of the total waste.

The remaining amount is handled by Tam Sinh Nghia JointStock Company and Vietstar.

But most of it is dumped in landfills, which is not aneco-friendly solution and the bad odour from them makes life miserable forpeople living nearby.

The disposal of industrial waste and emissions are notcarefully monitored.

There are several industrial waste dumps in suburbandistricts like Thu Duc, 12, Binh Tan, Tan Phuc, Hoc Mon, and Binh Chanh whichwere disposed inappropriately to the environment by production companies.

As for emissions, though the city has been making efforts toimprove public transport, the number of private vehicles continues to increaseat breakneck speed.

Nguyen Thi Thanh My, deputy director of the DNRE, said thedepartment is seeking to attract more bids for treatment of garbage andwastewater and recommending that the municipal People’s Committee increaseadjust tariff for wastewater treatment.

These measures are expected to make environmental projectsmore attractive to investors and help reduce the burden on the city’s finances.

Nhut said his company wants the city People’s Committee toallow it to produce electricity by burning garbage using Japanese technologyinstead of burying it.

It has also sought permission to build a construction wastetreatment plant, he added.

Japan’s Mitsubishi Group has explored the opportunity toinvest in domestic waste treatment with waste-to-energy technologies.

Last November, Tasco Joint Stock Company began constructionof its waste-to-energy waste treatment plant in the outlying district of CuChi.

With a capacity to handle 500 tonnes of waste a day, and expectedto increase in future to meet demand, the plant will begin operation next year.

The city is soliciting investment in waste treatment,especially waste-to-energy technologies, to reduce the rate of burial to 50percent by 2020 and 20 percent by 2050.-VNA