A computer graphic of the 400 tonne-per-day waste treatment plant that is being built in Long An's Thanh Hoa District.

The HCM City-based Tam Sinh Nghia Investment-Development Joint-stock Company will build the 400-tonne-per-day-capacity plant for around VND300 billion (US$16.2 million) to process all the waste from Tan An Township and surrounding areas.

Addressing the groundbreaking ceremony, the President and CEO of Tam Sinh Nghia JSC, Ngo Xuan Tiec, said the rapid urbanisation in Long An, which adjoins HCM City, has led to a swelling migrant worker population and a sharp increase in household and industrial waste.

"Seeking solutions to waste problems is a major concern of provincial authorities," Tiec said.

The garbage that comes in will be sorted into organic materials that will be treated to produce compost, electricity and recycled plastics.

Tiec said only 5 per cent of the waste, which can't be treated or recycled, will be buried at the dump.

"Our technology will help turn around the problem of unprocessed waste by creating recoverable resources and useful products," he said.

The plant, to be completed in the third quarter of 2011, will employ hundreds of local labourers.

He said the waste treatment technology was wholly-owned by a 100 per cent Viet Nam-invested company.

This is the eighth waste treatment plant projects invested by Tam Sinh Nghia in the country. The other waste treatment projects are in HCM City, Kien Giang, Thua Thien-Hue, Ha Nam and Binh Thuan.

In May 2009, the provincial authorities of Binh Thuan licensed an investment project proposed by Tam Sinh Nghia to build a similar plant in Phan Thiet Town.

In February 2008, HCM City granted a license to Tam Sinh Nghia to build a 1,000 tonne per day waste treatment plant in Cu Chi District. The plant is under construction and will become operational in the third quarter of 2010.

During the ground-breaking ceremony of the Cu Chi Plant in April 2008, Deputy PM Truong Vinh Trong said the land reserved for dumpsites had been reduced due to the rapid urbanisation, causing environmental problems.