Thai Nguyen Province’s Leaders Work with the French Embassy in Viet Nam

On the afternoon of October 24th, Mr. Duong Ngoc Long, Deputy Secretary of Thai Nguyen Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee had a meeting and working session with the mission of the French Embassy in Viet Nam led by Mr. Michel Drobniak, Economic Counselor, to assess the progress of the drainage system and wastewater treatment project for Thai Nguyen City. The working session was also attended by the leaders of the Departments of Planning and Investment, Finance, Construction, Foreign Affairs, the Office of the Provincial People’s Committee and Thai Nguyen Drainage and Urban Infrastructure Development Company.

The drainage system and wastewater treatment project for Thai Nguyen City was undertaken according to Viet Nam - France Protocol in 1998. This project helps protect the environment and the human welfare at the center of the Northern part of Thai Nguyen City, sponsored by the French ODA loans. Due to many reasons like the slippage in material prices, the project must be adjusted for technical solutions that raised the total investment capital as much as 3 times compared to the original approved project. The French loans are 412,080 billion VND, equal to 15,541,251 Euros, making up 44 % with an over-538-billion-VND-corresponding capital, making up 56 %. To September 30th, 2013, 206 billion VND were disbursed.

Speaking at the working session, Mr. Michel Drobniak highly appreciated the close co-ordination among the concerned partners in implementing the project. He requested the provincial leaders to continue directing their departments and agencies to ease the difficulties in implementing the project on schedule, meeting the desired requirements.

At the meeting, Mr. Duong Ngoc Long thanked for and highly appreciated the cooperation and assistance of the French Government. He stated the project on wastewater treatment for over 100 thousand households would make the First Graded City of Thai Nguyen more spacious, boosting the socio-economic development of Thai Nguyen City in particular and that of Thai Nguyen Province in general. For this reason, the leaders of Thai Nguyen Province had directed their departments and localities to actively cooperate with the contractors in speeding up the land clearance work, equipment import, construction and installation. He also requested Mr. Michel Drobniak to introduce more French businesses to find investment opportunities in the province.