Vientiane Capital, Lao PDR, February 18, 2021 – The Department of Water Supply (DWS), Ministry of Public Works and Transport together with the Global Green Growth Institute Lao PDR (GGGI) co-hosted a Project Steering Committee (PSC) Meeting on Wastewater and Solid Waste Treatment Capacity Building Project for City Environment Improvement in Lao PDR at the Crowne Plaza Hotel to report the progresses to date, Monitoring & Evaluation (M&E) framework, and workplan for 2021 to all PSC members. The project is financially supported by KOICA and implemented by DWS and GGGI.

Organized as the first PSC meeting, the meeting was co-chaired by Mrs. Vilaykham Phosalath, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Public Works and Transport (MPWT), Mr. Phoukhong Bannavong, Vice Mayor of Vientiane Capital, Mr. Som Boudtakoun, Vice Governor of Champasack Province, Mrs. Jeong Hee Im, KOICA Resident Representative, and Dr. Jason Lee, GGGI Country Representative to Lao PDR. The event was attended by 66 participants of Vientiane Capital and Pakse City authorities, and related stakeholders. The meeting was opened by the Vice Minister who stressed the importance of this project citing it as “a model project in terms of improving urban environment in the two selected cities”.

The project, which officially commenced at the end of 2019, supports MPWT and city authorities to improve waste management in Vientiane Capital and Pakse city to achieve green city development. The project consists of three complementary components focusing on solid waste management in Vientiane Capital and wastewater management in Pakse City. In 2020, the project made progress in terms of setting the foundation for implementing planned activities. Among these achievements include drafting the Vientiane Capital Sustainable Solid Waste Management Strategy, establishing organic waste recovery facility from markets, setting up waste banks at 10 primary schools to collect recyclables, and conducting Pakse city sanitation baseline assessment in preparation for the construction of wastewater treatment facilities.

Throughout the meeting, challenges and lessons learnt were also shared and discussed in relation to project implementation. In addition, the M & E framework was presented to make sure members of the PSC have a common understanding as to how and what will be monitored during the course of the project. Key action points were adopted at the meeting for further actions to address challenges and concerns, and ensure implementation is going as planned.