This project has been widely known for its snail’s-pace implementation. It will continue to move slowly as China State Construction Engineering Corporation (CSCEC) has been rejected as the contractor at the request of the World Bank (WB).

“The WB asked to reject this contractor because one of its subsidiaries in the Philippine was involved in a bribery scandal,” explained Nhieu Loc- Thi Nghe project management unit representative.

The Chinese contractor was carrying out the bidding pack No. 10, worth $85 million. According to the plan, it was to be completed by August 2009. As of now, only 65 percent of the workload was finished.

The change in contractor makes the whole project even more sluggish. The project management unit asked the WB for a new loan deadline, which is now set for September 2011, instead of June 2010.

The project management unit will divide the bidding pack No.10 into five smaller packs. One may be granted to Saigon Water Corporation (Sawaco). Another will be implemented by a sub-contractor of the rejected Chinese company. The three remaining packs, totaling $25 million, will be put on tender.

Once the Nhieu Loc-Thi Nghe project finishes, it will ensure water drainage to deal with flood and environmental problems for a 33.2sq.km area stretching across seven districts, with a population of 1.2 million.

The capital for this project comes from a WB loan. The initial loan deadline was December 2007, extended to December 2009. In late 2009, the loan was extended again to June 2010. The total investment for the first phase is $199.96 million and $249.69 million in the second phase.