Urban technical infrastructure

Over the past ten years, the urbanization process has been carried out quickly in the whole country. Under the guidance of the government, ministries and provinces, together with support from international institutions (ADB, WB etc) and other nations, many urban technical infrastructure works such as transportation, water supply and drainage, public lighting, solid waste collection and disposal, have been quickly constructed or rehabilitated. The development of urban system in recent years, including investment on urban technical infrastructure

has positively contributed to urbanization;

step-by-step enhanced the urban quality, improved urban resident life, and contributed to the poverty alleviation for sustainable urban development.

Essentially, it helps partially reduce the demand-supply imbalance: in the past decade, the urban technical infrastructure investment has been more focused and more effective. Investment on urban technical infrastructure development was not only in big cities or provincial centers, but also in medium and small towns in the central coast, central highlands, Mekong River Delta, border economic zones, etc.

The prioritized aspects are transportation, water supply, drainage, and urban environment and sanitation. The budget for investment on urban technical infrastructure has been mobilized from different sources: the state budget, ODA, FDI and others.

In April 2003, the Department for Urban Technical Infrastructure was established within MoC, following that the urban technical infrastructure management authority has been established in every locality, marking an advance in the in-depth professional management of urban technical infrastructure area. Since then the quality of urban technical infrastructure system has been remarkably improved in several cities:

On urban transportation

The quality of public transportation is rising in cities and indeed the whole country. By regulation, cities of Class III and upwards

143 should include public transportation study for

the construction planning projects. Buses are still the main public transportation, lacking other mass public transport modes for urban areas, especially in the two cities of special class and 7 cities of Class I. Hanoi and HCMC have started construction on subways and elevated railways in the city, and rehabilitated their urban transport system. However, due to poor management, the rate of private transport development has considerably increased in all cities of Vietnam, leading to serious traffic congestion, dust and noise pollution in the major cities.

Dust pollution in Vietnam’s cities is among the highest level in the world. Noise pollution from motorized vehicle’s horns are implicitly accepted as it reducing effectiveness of its intended function. Hanoi is piloting a traffic lane separation project, achieving initial results but also creating new congestion points. The ratio of urban land area for transport is low, less than 15% of the construction land area. There is a distinct lack of parking space with the parking area less than 1% of the construction land area.

Urban water supply

In 1999, the Orientation for Vietnam’s urban water supply to 2020 was announced. 14 urban water supply and sanitation projects were appraised. Since then the urban resident awareness of water supply has improved. In 2000, eight cities and towns had water supply projects appraised with a loan from the ADB. In 2001, there were 181

water supply projects for district towns, and the fourth national water supply conference was held. In 2002, all provincial towns had water supply projects, but its coverage only reached 60%-70%, with a target of 70-100 liters per person per day. The water loss ratio was very high, at 40% in average (52%

in Hanoi, 46% in HCMC). In 2003, the lost ratio in urban reduced to 38%. In 2004, there were 170 water supply projects, with a total investment of VND 15 thousand billion.

The loss ratio was 35.6%. In 2004, the Prime Minister issued directive No 04/2004/CT-TTg on strengthening the management of water supply and water use.

In 2006, the country had more than 300 water supply projects with a total capacity of 4.2 million m³ per day over the total designed capacity of 4.7 million m³per day.

In 2007, the Government issued Degree No 117/2007/ND-CP on the production, supply and use of piped water. Total designed capacity of urban water supply reached 4.82 million m³ per day, serving 65%-70% of urban residents (75-80% in large cities) at the supply level of 80-100 liters/person/day (100-120 liters in large cities) and an average loss ratio of 32%. In 2008, total design capacity of urban water supply was 5.48 million m³ per day, with coverage of about 70% (75%-90% in large cities), at use level of 90 liters per person per day (100-120 liters in large cities), average loss ratio of 32%. In 2009, the water supply service had been improved with some 440 cities/towns have centralized water supply

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systems, about 73% of urban citizens have access to piped water. The water use is 90 liter per person per day and loss ratio is 30%

in average (some cities/towns managed to reduce it to less than 20%).

Although there has been much effort for supplying water, the rate of urban citizens supplied and water use level per head is still low. Water loss and revenue loss is high. On the other hand, the quality of piped water in most cities is not sufficient for drinking straight from the tap.

Urban drainage

During period 1999-2001, the drainage was not much cared in cities although there were some drainage and sanitation projects. The flooding has been quite common in cities, drainage and sewage systems were usually combined. But the annual reports of cities/towns rarely mention about this issue.

In 2002, the Minister of Construction signed Decision No 301/QD-BXD on the issuance of the environmental protection strategy of the construction sector to 2010, in which drainage and sanitation has been paid more attention. Six cities have had drainage

planning approved (Hanoi, HCMC, Phan Rang, Vinh, Bien Hoa and Thu Dau Mot). In 2006, 20 cities/towns implemented drainage and sanitation projects. In 2007, the Government issued Decree No 88/2007 /ND-CP on drainage for urban and industrial areas. 32/64 provincial towns implemented ODA drainage projects with total investment of VND 32,000 billion.

In 2008 all cities/towns of Class IV or higher have a drainage system, but were not completed, mostly combined with the sewage system, so the service level was about 60%. Total urban wastewater volume is some 3 million m³per day whereas total capacity of constructed centralized wastewater treatment plants is only 265 thousand m³per day.

This leads to the fact that water environment in the cities is heavily polluted.

Urban lakes and rivers are not paying attention in terms of water environment protection. For the whole country, only six cities have centralized wastewater treatment plants (Hanoi, HCMC, Ha Long, Da Nang, Da Lat, Buon Ma Thuot), 12 cities are constructing drainage and wastewater treatment system and 11 cities are on construction bidding or technical design process. Thus only 29 over 754 cities/towns have had urban drainage and wastewater treatment projects. The urban lakes, ponds, ditches, with their regulatory and drainage functions in the rainy season have not been protected. Tunneling natural drainage systems in the cities affects natural Table 4_ Water supply in the urban

Year 2002 2003 2004 2007 2008 2009 Coverage

(%) 60-70 - - 65-70 70 73

Supply /person /day (liter)

70-100 - - 80-100 90 90

Lost

(%) 40 38 35.6 32 32 30

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is one of the reasons of urban flooding during rainy season.

Urban solid waste management During the period 1999-2000, solid waste management was not given attention. In 2001, MoC issued Circular No 01/2001/TT-BXD guiding regulations on environmental protection in site selections for solid waste disposal projects. In 2002, the solid waste collected in new urban areas and industrial areas was only 60% -70%. In 2005, the prime minister signed Directive No 23/2005/CT-TTg on strengthening the management of solid waste in urban and industrial areas. In 2006, the solid waste collection service covered 70% total volume (in which reusable and recyclable solid waste was 25%). In 2007, the Government issued Decree No 59/2007/ND-CP on solid waste management. 80% of urban solid waste was collected, of which 20%-25% was reused or recycled. In 2008, the total volume of residential and industrial solid waste collected and transported was 8.8 million tons (i.e. approximately 24,000 tons per day). The waste segregation at the source was piloted in some cities. About 80% of the residential solid waste was collected, with the recovering ratio (for reuse/recycle) about 20%-30%. Approximate 60% of solid waste was disposed in sanitary landfills. Three residential solid waste treatment technologies were certified by the Ministry of Construction, namely SERAPHINE, ANSINH-ASC,

MBT-CD. Among the collected solid waste, residential waste is about 70%, industrial waste is about 18%, and healthcare waste is about 3%. Management should pay more attention to healthcare and hazardous solid waste as there are not enough sanitary landfills in the cities. The waste processing for reuse and recycle is weak. There is no remarkable improvement in waste segregation at the source.

Urban power supply,

telecommunication and lighting The period of 1999-2003, power supply and urban lighting got little attention from the management. From 2004, urban lighting has attracted more care. In 2007, the Government issued decrees on urban technical infrastructure, but none mentioned urban lighting. In November 2007, the 3rd national meeting on urban lighting was held in Hanoi.

From then, urban lighting indicators have been present in the cities’ authority reports.

Urban lighting is increasing in special class cities and Class I cities is 95%-100% in main streets. The number is 90%-95% in Class II and III cities/towns, and Class IV and V towns mainly have lighting on the national/

provincial roads. Urban management authorities in central or local levels scarcely have any formal trained staff in this field.

In 2008, the public lighting system was strongly developed, bringing considerable improvement in urban lighting quality. The Ministry of Construction drafted a decree on urban lighting for that year. In 2009, the

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Government issued Decree No 79/2009/

ND-CP on urban lighting, completing th legal documents system on urban technical infrastructure. However, the urban lighting requirements only mention main roads in the cities and many lanes still do have not sufficient lighting or even public lighting.

Energy saving in public lighting is changing to advanced technology lamps with high illumination and low energy consumption has been limited. Indicators of urban lighting are rarely calculated and mentioned in the cities’ reports.

The urban power and telecommunication cable networks are managed by specific electricity and post-telecommunication agencies. Therefore the management function is not clear between urban authority and line agencies in this area. Telecom cables hanging freely on power posts also negatively affect the urban landscape and power safety. There have been fatal accidents from electricity shocks in large cities, causing dangers to urban citizens.

This is also a responsibility overlap in urban management functions. The lack of laws on post and telecommunication is also a barrier to the construction and investment management in this field.

Park and urban verdure

In the 1999-2004 period, this aspect enjoyed little attention. It was usually mentioned in urban planning projects, but not in urban management and development.

The cities’ governance reports rarely

touched on it. In 2005, MoC issued the Circular No 20/2005/TT-BXD guiding on urban verdure management. It was the first ever legal document at the ministerial level on park and verdure, opening a new period of park-verdure management in Vietnam’s urban region. Since then several cities has issued their own regulations on verdure management like Hanoi, Vinh Phuc, Kon Tum, and Can Tho. Ancient trees are protected, rare trees are numbered and have records, more parks are built, streets and roads are lined with selected types of trees to improve the urban landscape. A governmental decree on urban parks and verdure was drafted and is awaiting approval. However, urban verdure is still not present in the annual reports of the cities.

There is also a lack professional staff for urban verdure in both central and local levels.

Urban burial service and cemetery The cemeteries and burial services are an important item in urban construction and development. During the period of 1999-2003, this issue was rarely mentioned in urban development and management. The training institutions on urban planning and management did not delve into this so urban planning for the dead also has problems as the urban planning for the living.

In 2002, the Minister of Construction issued Decision No 301/QD-BXD on issuing an environmental protection strategy for the construction sector until 2010, and the

147 cemetery and burial service received more

attention. Cemetery parks have been formed in Hanoi, Thu Dau Mot and other cities.

Standards and requirements for construction of urban cemeteries and funeral houses have been issued. In 2008, the Government issued Decree No 35/2008/ND-CP on construction, management and use of cemeteries. This decree covers gaps in urban technical infrastructure governance.

The lack of funeral houses managed by the urban authority is common throughout the whole country. Only large cities like Hanoi and HCMC have funeral houses mostly located right within hospitals, which is against the principles of urban management and development. The constant overloading, congestion, and noise pollution from funeral houses as well as the short distances from funeral houses and cemeteries to the nearest urban residential areas have affected lives of local residents. Environmental pollution from waste water and flue gas discharged from burial cemeteries causes a serious impact on the urban environment.

The main form of corpse disposal in Vietnam is burial, including first burial, exhumation for reburial, or burial without exhumation. It uses construction land in the urban regions. Cremation which is not yet popular in Vietnam should be promoted with a view of saving land.

Urban underground works

The period of 1999-2003 produced only few legal documents on urban underground

works. The Construction Law and Decree No 08/2005/ND-CP mentions almost nothing on this issue. In 2007, the Government issued Decree No 41/2007/ -CP on urban underground construction, and is the first ever regulation on urban underground construction. Underground works like underground infrastructure, transport works, public works, basement of buildings, or underground construction planning, etc. are mentioned in this decree.

Underground construction is still a new field in Vietnam so most power cables, telecommunication cables, water pipes, sewers in the urban sector have not been put in specialized underground tunnels.

3. Conclusions and