USAID, MND start new contract of 73 Million USD for Dioxin clean-up at Bien Hoa Air Base
WVR - On March 7, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Administrator Samantha Power, U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Marc Knapper, and Vice Minister of the Ministry of National Defense (MND) Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien announced a new contract of up to 73 million USD to treat and clean soil at Bien Hoa Air Base.
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| On March 7, USAID Administrator Samantha Power, U.S. Ambassador to Vietnam Marc Knapper, and Vice Minister of the Ministry of National Defense (MND) Senior Lieutenant General Hoang Xuan Chien announced a new contract of up to $73 million to treat and clean soil at Bien Hoa Air Base. (Photo: US Embassy in Vietnam) |
This program has been implemented as the two countries mark 10 years of the Comprehensive Partnership. Standing on a recently remediated parcel of land at Bien Hoa Air Base, the representatives of the two countries marked recent progress and announced the next stage of bilateral efforts to remediate dioxin contamination.
Under the new contract, Nelson Environmental Remediation USA, an American small business, will design and build a treatment facility to decontaminate soil and sediment on and around the Bien Hoa Air base. The first phase will treat more than 100,000 cubic meters of the total approximate 500,000 cubic meters of dioxin-contaminated soil and sediment.
The Bien Hoa clean-up project was launched in April 2019 and is expected to take 10 years to complete and cost up to 450 million USD. The U.S. Government’s contribution to-date to the Bien Hoa clean-up is 163.25 million USD, out of a total expected contribution of 300 million USD. The Bien Hoa clean-up is nearly four times the volume of a previous Danang Airport clean-up project, which USAID and MND completed in 2018.
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| USAID and MND officials inaugurated a park at the site of today’s ceremony to commemorate this key milestone in cooperation between the two countries.(Photo: US Embassy in Vietnam) |
USAID and MND officials also inaugurated a park at the site of today’s ceremony, installed by USAID and Vietnam’s Air Defense Air Force Command (ADAFC) with support from the U.S. Department of Defense, to commemorate this key milestone in cooperation between the two countries.
In a signing ceremony, USAID handed over this park land to the Government of Vietnam, which marks the first decontaminated parcel of Bien Hoa Air Base to be returned to MND. Previously, USAID and MND completed the remediation of the first parcel of land, located off-base near Gate 2.
“Let us redouble our efforts in ensuring that our bilateral partnership grows stronger and more resilient for the next 27 years and beyond,” said U.S Ambassador Knapper.
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| Attendance were U.S. Consul General Susan Burns, USAID Mission Director Aler Grubbs, USAID Deputy Assistant Administrator for Asia Craig Hart, and Vice Chairman of Dong Nai People’s Committee Cao Tien Dung. (Photo: US Embassy in Vietnam) |
Also in attendance at today’s ceremony were U.S. Consul General Susan Burns, USAID Mission Director Aler Grubbs, USAID Deputy Assistant Administrator for Asia Craig Hart, and Vice Chairman of Dong Nai People’s Committee Cao Tien Dung.
In December 2022, USAID began a 29 million USD program with a Vietnamese firm to complete critical preparatory work at Bien Hoa Air Base. This contract, with VINA E&C, is the largest ever from USAID’s Mission in Vietnam to a local organization.
