Under this project, at least eight wastewater treatment systems will be constructed in these four provinces. The project will also support comprehensive review of the country’s legal framework on pollution management. The funding, which is sourced from the WB’s International Development Association (IDA), will serve the Industrial Pollution Management Project that will be implemented in industrial parks located in Nam Dinh, Ha Nam, Dong Nai and Ba Ria Vung Tau, four of the country’s most industrialized provinces.

The project helps promote environmental sustainability, one of the key parts of the WB’s Vietnam Country Partnership Strategy for the 2012 – 2016 period.

According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, industrial parks discharge up to 1 million cubic meters of untreated sewage every day, which accounts for about 70 percent of the country’s total volume of industrial waste water.

In its 2010 Vietnam Development Report on Natural Resources Management, the WB concluded that poor management of natural resources and continued environmental degradation are likely to jeopardize the pace, quality and sustainability of the country’s economic growth.

As the driver of Vietnam’s economic growth, industries contributed 41.1 percent to the country’s overall GDP in 2010, far higher than the 22.7% in 1990. However, along with such a rapid development, industries have generated serious pollution problems and has also put great pressure on its natural resources, WB said.

"Inadequate regulations, weak enforcement and poor compliance for industrial wastewater treatment reinforce each other to create major environmental risks from Vietnam’s industrialization. It is important that this cycle be broken to promote the greening of Vietnam’s development,” said Victoria Kwakwa, the World Bank Country Director for Vietnam.