There are very few businesses participating in bidding for household waste treatment

​(News Portal – Dong Nai) – Currently, localities are carrying out procedures to invite bids for the domestic waste treatment package in 2024, but the situation is not better than in 2023. The reason is the number of businesses and handling capacity in the province has not increased, but the amount of waste increased by about 5%/year.

Domestic waste treatment activities at Quang Trung commune waste treatment area 

Simple procedures, cycle and appropriate bidding unit price are what businesses and localities want.

Too few enterprises participating in bidding

In 2023, Nhon Trach district many times opened bidding packages for domestic waste treatment but there was no participating unit. Every few months, even three times a month, the district receives a notice to stop accepting household waste. Garbage collection, transportation, and treatment are always in a passive state, affecting the district's environmental hygiene.

Vice Chairman of People's Committee of Nhon Trach district Nguyen Huu Thanh shared that last year, bidding for household waste treatment was announced 5 times but there was no participating unit. It was not until the end of the year that the district signed a waste treatment contract. However, this is basically not a contract to continue processing trash, but a contract signed to have a basis for paying for temporary trash treatment during the year.

Not only a problem for Nhon Trach district, but districts: Long Thanh, Trang Bom, Tan Phu, Cam My are also in a situation where there is no unit bidding to treat household waste. Local solutions which are proposed that the Department of Natural Resources and Environment and the Provincial People's Committee influence businesses to sign contracts to temporarily handle and process waste for the locality.

Vice Chairman of People's Committee of Tan Phu district Pham Ngoc Hung said that last year, because there was no bidder, the waste treatment contract could not be signed. The district signed a temporary contract with a household waste treatment business, but was repeatedly notified to stop accepting waste because the temporary contract only paid 70% of the value. Sometimes the complicated procedures caused the district to delay payment to the business.

"We are preparing bidding documents to treat household waste in 2024. Through working with businesses that are temporarily processing waste for the district, they agreed to accept waste until June 2024. As for whether or not they will participate in the bidding to handle household waste for the district, it is unknown. In the last 6 months of the year, it is unknown where the district's trash will be sent. There is a risk of garbage congestion and environmental pollution occurring" - Mr. Hung said.

Currently, localities are carrying out procedures to invite bids for a domestic waste treatment package in 2024, but the situation is not better than in 2023. The reason is that the number of businesses and the capacity to receive domestic waste in the province have not increased, but the amount of waste increases by about 5%/year. The largest household waste treatment area in the province announced that it will only maintain a capacity of 1.2 thousand tons/day until the end of June 2024. In the remaining months, if the receiving capacity is reduced by 50%, then the handling of garbage from 4-5 districts is an issue that needs to be calculated.

Businesses must be responsible for handling household waste

Dong Nai has no shortage of land banks for household waste treatment, but in recent years, the management of this type of waste has not been really effective. Currently, 3/7 treatment zones do not participate in bidding to treat household waste for districts. There is one treatment area that is not qualified to participate in bidding or sign contracts even though it still accepts waste. Of the remaining 3 treatment areas, if only 1 does not participate in the bidding in 2024 or has a mechanical problem, there will definitely be a garbage backlog.

According to localities, the reason businesses do not want to participate in bidding for household garbage treatment is that the procedures are complicated, usually in the first or second quarter the procedures are completed, while businesses have had to receive waste but have not received full payment. The documents and bidding process are complicated, but the contract is only signed for 1 year, businesses are worried about not winning the bid next year, so they also limit investment in technology and equipment. The ceiling price for waste treatment has not increased for many years. There are no sanctions for businesses that are allocated land by the province but are slow to invest in infrastructure and complete procedures to receive household waste.

Mr. Dang Minh Duc, Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, said that the above problems have been and are being resolved. Specifically, in December 2023, the Provincial People's Committee issued the unit price for household waste treatment so that the locality has a basis to complete bidding documents; issued a decision to increase the unit price of household waste collection to create conditions for standardizing vehicles and equipment and improving the quality of environmental sanitation services; promulgating a project on domestic solid waste management in Dong Nai province.

Working with the Department of Natural Resources and Environment on results for 2023 and tasks for 2024, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Vo Van Phi said that recently, the Provincial People's Committee had issued a series of directives, including ones related to the environment. In this first quarter, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment presided over the development of plans and advised the Provincial People's Committee to organize a conference to implement the project on domestic solid waste management in Dong Nai province. Continue to propagate the implementation of household waste classification at source to reduce the amount of waste that must be processed. Departments and sectors speed up the implementation of legal procedures for the waste incineration project to generate electricity with a capacity of 1.2 thousand tons/day to reduce pressure on treatment areas.

Districts and cities should invest in building and operating effective waste collection, storage, transfer, transportation and treatment systems in their areas.