(VOVWORLD) - The US Agency for International Development (USAID) on Tuesday announced a new contract for approximately 29 million USD to clean up dioxin contamination at Bien Hoa Air Base.
 The excavation of contaminated soil at Bien Hoa Air Base (Photo: USAID Vietnam) |
USAID issued the four-year contract for civil works to Vietnamese firm VINA E&C Investment and Construction JSC. Under the contract, VINA E&C will complete the excavation of contaminated soil on the air base and prepare it for treatment.
Aler Grubbs, USAID Vietnam Mission Director said this contract will complete critical preparatory work, paving the way for the treatment phase of the project. This marks the largest contract yet by USAID to a local Vietnamese organization, he added.
USAID completed the clean-up of dioxin contamination at Danang Airport in 2018 and is now working with the Ministry of National Defense to remediate approximately half a million cubic meters of dioxin-contaminated soil and sediment on and around the Bien Hoa Air Base.
The Bien Hoa clean-up project, which was launched in April 2019, involves nearly four times the volume of soil as the Danang Airport clean-up. In June 2022, USAID completed the remediation of the first parcel of land—a community lake located outside Gate 2.
The whole project is expected to take 10 years and cost an estimated 450 million USD. The US Government’s contribution to date is 163 million out of a total expected contribution of 300 million USD.