Contracting and land rights

By El Porvenir Posted on Tue 05 Dec 2006, about 19 years ago

I do not know anything about landholding in Vietnam today but note that the project is within a "Commune". Does this mean that the land on which the water source is located is public, or governmental, or owned in common? if not, what arrangements are made to obtain title to the land on which the water source is located? We not only do that, we also obtain easements across any private land which the pipelines must cross. Do you not have to do that in Vietnam?

The other question is about contracting. I note that the project description includes responsibility of local officials to find contractors to bid on the job. Are such bidders private companies or individuals? Has EMW worked with different contractors on every project you have developed? If so what has been your overall experience as far as quality of work, post-construction problems with the project (design or construction), guaranties or bonds by the contractor to ensure a quality working project?

And as always: does the monthly user fee include savings for pump replacement?
How is the monthly user fee calculated?

Contracting and land rights

By East Meets West Foundation Posted on Tue 05 Dec 2006, about 19 years ago

Hello Carole. A commune is the offiical term for a village in Vietnam. The water source is almost always on public land, but sometimes the pipes cross various jurisdictions. Access has to be negotiated. If we have to cross private land, yes, we need to get easments. The local authorities always take care of that.
The contractors are private. We work with many contractors (we do around 300 projects a year in Vietnam, from schools to water systems, libraries, hospitals, dams, bridges, etc) and so we have a wide network of vetted contractors. We do a 10% hold-back for final quality review, and have our own staff do site supervision and quality control.
Yes, the user fee is calculated to cover pump replacement, and is based on a simply cost-recovery model for electricity, salaries for water managers and equipment repair and replacement. We warranty the systems, so if anything major goes wrong (water goes bad, water tower develops serious leaks) we go back and fix it. Our long-term success rate in Vietnam for water projects is over 95%, while the country average is only 60% (i.e. 40% fail after two years).