On October 16th, a seminar between Vietnam and Japan on drainage and sewage treatment system - Developing workforce and tendency to access cutting-edge technology in drainage and sewage treatment system - was held by Department of Technical Infrastructure, Ministry of Construction of Vietnam in Hanoi.

Nowadays, although Vietnam has recorded achievements of building and developing technical infrastructure and environment, there are still many obstacles such as lack of integrated infrastructure, slowness of new investment, lack of renovations and upgrades, lack of workforce and management system, which stops water industry from developing.

In addition, drainage and sewage treatment technology has only focused on sewage treatment. On the other hand, there is little concern of renewing and applying technology related to construction, installation, maintenance of the system.

Therefore, this seminar is an occasion for management, domestic and international experts to discuss, analyse and find out solutions for developing workforce of water sector. Meanwhile, Japanese experts will have chance to announce new technologies which is applied in Vietnam and about to be developed in the upcoming time.

Speaking at the seminar, Dr. Nguyen Hong Tien - Head of Department of Technical Infrastructure emphasized that training courses of raising qualification of water sector staff have been taken at many utilities; however, the result is still not satisfying enough. Focusing on high qualified workforce is solutions of Vietnamese government until 2020 and beyond.

In fact, many plants have applied new technology of drainage and sewage treatment and achieved many primarily positive results.

However, according to some organisations, there are five issues about sewage treatment technology which should be solved:

- Removing substances like Phosphate and Nitro

- Saving energy

- Treating new pollutants

- Connecting community

- Developing sustainably

Therefore, renovation in sewage treatment system is an urgent thing and should be done as soon as possible to solve the above issues.

During framework of the seminar, there are some special - concerned issues: Reinforcing qualification to develop drainage and sewage treatment system sustainably; condition and demand of training workforce of drainage in Viet Nam; developing drainage system and technology applied in Japan.

The result of the seminar contributes to the mission of sustainable development of drainage system and improves management of drainage and sewage treatment system in Vietnam.

Yen Le