Da Nang was one of three provinces included in the Three Cities Sanitation Project, for which it received an IDA credit of $30.8 million. The project focused on improving drainage, sewerage, and solid waste management throughout the city and also provided institutional support.
Following the first Three Cities Sanitation Project, the city embarked on the first World Bank multi-sectoral urban operation in Vietnam called Da Nang Priority Infrastructure Investment Project (PIIP). PIIP aimed to improve the efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of urban services through an investment package in the amount of $218.5 million (of which $152.4 million was from IDA). Investments included: (i) urban upgrading of low-income areas, construction of resettlement sites, and micro-finance for home improvement; (ii) environmental infrastructure improvement; (iii) new roads and bridges linking peri-urban areas to the city center; and (iv) capacity building and technical assistance.
Over 500,000 people in low-income neighborhoods in Da Nang have benefited from increased access to basic services. In the project’s low-income areas, 95.5% of urban households gained access to on-plot piped water supply and 97.5% of households have drainage and waste water collection facilities. With a comprehensive wastewater management strategy and full cost-recovery policy, Da Nang has been able to provide an efficient and self-financed wastewater collection and treatment system. The principles of urban upgrading have now been fully integrated within the city’s programs. Other Vietnamese cities are trying to emulate Da Nang’s model.
The project also provided close to 220,000 people access to all-season roads. The technical support financed by the project helped Da Nang create a new public transport authority, the Da Nang Traffic and Public Transport Management Centre. This helped change the institutional focus from street and road construction and maintenance to a broader urban transport agenda that includes traffic management and implementation and management of public transport.
The project also placed an emphasis on institutional development and capacity building, and provided technical assistance on master planning and urban transport planning in partnership with the Governments of Australia, Singapore and Japan. By 2019, Da Nang will become the first city in Vietnam to have separate municipal wastewater collection and treatment and sewers systems. These investments will contribute to the overall tourism development of the My An – My Khe area, one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.
The project supports Da Nang to develop a comprehensive public transport system, comprising of regular bus services (DANA Bus) and high capacity Bus Rapid Transit, with an integrated service plan and a single smart card system. The city has commissioned six Dana bus services in 2017 and will deploy another six in 2018. In the long term, the new Dana Bus and BRT system will trigger changes in land use planning for more compact and dense development. This, in turn, will help citizens move away from using cars and motorbikes by making public and non-motorized transport a much more viable choice.
Through the World Bank’s long term engagement in Da Nang, the city has gained substantial experience and capacity in managing infrastructure projects. The collaboration has now entered a new phase that focuses on strengthening regional institutions, creating integrated public financial management, and addressing the emerging climate change and green growth agenda using innovative tools.
Da Nang has a long-term vision to play an increasingly critical role as an international gateway and regional transport hub, through the development of a new port and improvement of multi-modal connectivity via railway and roads. To that end, the city is considering the relocation of the existing railway station from the current inner city area to the city’s outskirts, closer to the new port area, and plans to re-develop the valuable urban core areas around the existing station. This ambitious plan presents opportunities to improve the inter-city connectivity and livability of inner city, and to employ innovative urban development mechanisms including transit-oriented development, land-value capture, and public-private partnerships. The World Bank supports the city’s approach and will continue working with the city to further examine the feasibility of this proposal.
