Vietnam Environmental Technologies Export Market Plan

Chapter 12
Environmental Services
12.1—Current Trends
The market for environmental services is driven by
technical assistance and consulting contracts to projects
funded with overseas development assistance. Such
projects require numerous feasibility studies, project
preparation studies, and preparation of bidding documents
(terms of reference).
Larger contracts for detailed project design and
supervising implementation represent the largest value
contracts available in Vietnam for environmental services
companies. In 1999, for example, U.S.-based Camp
Dresser McKee was awarded a $958,000 contract to
prepare a feasibility study for rehabilitation of a polluted
canal in Ho Chi Minh City as part of a $180 million World
Bank sanitation project in that city. Camp Dresser McKee
is also likely to win the contract for detailed design and
preparation of bid documents, valued at approximately
$6 million.
A number of the large overseas development assistance
projects source co-financing from bilateral aid agencies
for consulting and technical assistance components of
projects. These grants then go to companies from the
bilateral donor’s host country. For example, the Finnish
development agency is financing design/technical
assistance contracts to three major World Bank
environment projects: Hanoi Water Supply, Haiphong
Water Supply and Sanitation, and the Haiphong
component of the Bank’s Three Cities Sanitation project.
These service contracts were awarded to Finnish
companies (YME Group, Plancenter Ltd., and Soil and
Water of Finland, Ltd.).
12.2—Market Opportunities and
Competitive Situation
Demand for monitoring services is increasing, and
numerous ODA projects have provided funding in this
area. Comprehensive studies and measurements of
pollution levels in Vietnam are now underway.
Case Study 12.1—U.S. Success Story
U.S. engineering firm Black and Veatch has been one of the more
successful American companies tapping the environmental
services market in Vietnam. Black and Veatch has targeted largescale
ODA projects funded by the Asian Development Bank
(ADB) and the World Bank.
Black and Veatch first established itself in Vietnam by opening
a representative office shortly after the U.S. trade embargo was
lifted in 1994. It has since capitalized on its reputation as a world
leader in engineering and project management to win consultancy
contracts on major civil works projects.
Its first project in Vietnam was a $1.2 million contract for the
ADB-financed Second Provincial Towns Water Supply project.
Black and Veatch served as the construction supervisor for water
works projects in the northern cities of Tuyet Quang, Ninh Binh
and Vinh. It won a second consultant contract with the ADB,
valued at $1.7 million, for the Phuoc Hoa Multipurpose Water
project in Binh Duong Province, outside Ho Chi Minh City. The
project is developing infrastructure for water supply, irrigation, and
salinity control.
Capitalizing on its reputation and established track record in
Vietnam, Black and Veatch won a World Bank consulting contract
for a small water resources project in the Mekong delta. While
this project is relatively small compared to the ADB projects, it
could be a key stepping stone to much larger contracts to be
awarded for the World Bank’s $147 million Mekong delta water
resources project, which is beginning implementation in 2000.
Black and Veatch is also targeting the ADB’s Ho Chi Minh
City Environmental Improvement Project, the Danang component
of the World Bank’s Three Cities Sanitation project, and the World
Bank’s Ho Chi Minh City Environment and Sanitation project.
One of Black and Veatch’s keys to success has been
demonstrating to ministries awarding the contracts (in this case,
the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Transport) their
engineering capabilities and their capacity to solve problems.
Implementing large-scale civil works projects in Vietnam
inevitably means tackling unexpected difficulties. The client’s
vision of the project often differs from that of the project
designers.
Being able to mesh the needs and demands of the local
People’s Committee where the project is being built with those
of the project designers is a key factor in winning tenders,
according to one Black and Veatch executive. “You have to show
that you will be able to solve the conflicts between local interests
and project interests.”
44 U.S. Department of Commerce, International Trade Administration