The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and Binh Duong Water Environment Joint Stock Company (BIWASE) signed a US$13mn loan to finance the construction and operation of a composting plant and waste-to-energy (WTE) facility in Binh Duong province in Vietnam
The financing comprises US$7mn from ADB’s ordinary capital resources and, US$6mn from the Leading Asia’s Private Infrastructure Fund (LEAP) administered by ADB. The financing package also includes a parallel co-financing of US$7mn from the Japan International Cooperation Agency.
The composting plant will have a processing capacity of 840 tons daily while the WTE facility will be able to process 200 tons of industrial and municipal solid waste per day to generate 5MW of electricity for in-house use at the South Binh Duong Solid Waste Treatment Complex. Output from the compost facility will be sold as fertiliser for agricultural use.
“Vietnam’s rapid urbanisation and economic growth has led to a sharp increase in municipal and industrial waste, and yet long-term financing for waste treatment plants remains a challenge,” said the director general of ADB’s Private Sector Operations Department, Suzanne Gaboury. “This project addresses the pressing need for efficient waste management in Binh Duong province and provides a strong case for commercial lenders to consider future investments to make cities more liveable and develop ways of generating renewable energy that help tackle the causes of climate change.”
Binh Duong province is one of the most rapidly industrialising provinces in Vietnam, but this rapid growth generates large amounts of solid waste. Industrial composting and WTE facilities can reduce the increasing volume of waste going to landfills.
“This project supports Vietnam’s continuous efforts to improve the overall waste management system. It will provide a model for other Vietnam provinces and surrounding countries seeking to reduce waste through modern processing systems and reduce the amount of waste that ends up in landfill,” said ADB Director General for Southeast Asia Ramesh Subramaniam.
“ADB has been a long-term partner in our work to support Vietnam’s water and sanitation priorities, and we look forward to working with ADB again in this project,” said BIWASE’s chairman of the Board of Directors, Nguyen Van Thien. “This project shows international and commercial financers that Vietnam’s waste management sector is both feasible and attractive,” Nguyen added.
