Thursday, June 16, 2011

16/06 Sweden likely to help in waste treatment


16/06/2011 | 21:20:00
Sweden has unveiled some projects on environment for Vietnam such as environmental evaluation, environmentally friendly technology and public education on environmental protection.

The aid was made public by Swedish Ambassador Staffan Herrstrom at a workshop held in Ho Chi Minh City on June 16, focusing on programmes of cooperation in sustainable development, especially at the provincial or municipal level.

HCM City and Boras city of Sweden were in the spotlight.

The municipal Service of Natural Resources and Environment reported that as the nation’s largest economic hub, HCM City has contributed 23 percent to the gross domestic product, attracted 20 percent of total foreign investment and recorded an annual GDP growth of 12 percent, well above the national average.

Figures said it all, making the city most suitable for accessing advanced technology in environmental pollution treatment from developed countries such as Sweden , emphasised the environmental watchdog.

It said the city has been relocating polluters from the inner districts to the suburbs and putting standard waste treatment facilities as conditions in considering investment licence grants.

Investors interested in projects in the city have also to submit concrete criteria on environmental protection.

Many other measures have also been taken to harmonise development and environment, including the deployment of clean energy buses, a project to aid workers in export-processing zones and industrial parks to go to work by electric bicycles and the use of biogas at residential quarters.

In reply, Olle Engstrom, coordinator on waste recycling with the Boras city of Sweden , said the Boras model of a green city was highly applicable to HCM City due to their similarity.

In Boras now, wastes discharged by residential families are collected and turned into biogas to fuel means of public transport, air conditioning systems and electric appliances.

He also wanted to share the Swedish solution, “Single system” with Vietnamese provinces and cities.

The solution here consists of reduction in discharge and emission (responsibility rested on producers), reuse of wastes (family responsibility), waste recycling (with stimulus policy) and the remaining wastes turned into energy./.