In the following section you find reports on the study tours that were organized by our project.

12/2009 On the study tour to Bac Ninh Water Supply and Sewerage

1. Preliminary introduction of the Company

Bac Ninh Water Supply an Sewerage One Member Limited Company is under the management of Bac Ninh PPC and assigned with the management, operation and exploitation of water supply systems within Bac Ninh Province and the sewerage system in Bac Ninh City.

The Company provides running water for approximately 30,000 customers, including enterprises, households, and water services providers in Bac Ninh urban areas.

The current capacity of the water plants is as follows.

• Bac Ninh Water Plant: 20,000 m3/per day and night.

• Pho Moi Water Supply Station: 1,500 m3/per day and night.

• Lim Water Supply Station: 1,025 m3/per day and night.

• Thua Water Supply Station: 3,500 m3/per day and night.

The Company is committed to “customer satisfaction to broaden the scope of services and create a group of potential customers”.

2. Report content

The establishment and development of the Customer Management Department- its organizational structure, staff organization and network development.

The Customer Management Department was established in 1998 with 3,000 customers and 7 staffs. Its turnover in 1998 was 386,000,000 VND with the loss rate of 31%.

The current number of customers is 30,000 with the 2008 revenue being 15 billion VND, the 2009 revenue estimated to be 18 billion and the loss rate 18.9 %, The number of staff is 51 people.

The Customer Management Department also takes the function of the Sales Department. The customer care unit within the Customer Management Department was established in April 2008.

The department has developed a network of collaborators in communes and wards. The functions and duties assigned for commune and ward collaborators include making quarterly progress reports as well as biannual and annual evaluation reports and submitting them to the company. The collaborators receive a monthly payment of 200,000 VND.

The tariff is collected at certain places and on certain days, which are publicized on the mass media or sent in written form directly to the customers at their convenience. In case of deadline expiry, the tariff should be paid at the company or through bank transfer.

The company has established information reception stations in cases of complaints or feedback in the following areas.

SOPs, lessons learnt and the value added by customer management to the company’s strategic objectives through customer data bank management, customer care, customers’ complaints management and public relations.I>

The company has developed a system of internal operation procedure for all departments within the company, providing detailed regulations on the coordination among them. SOPs have also been developed for management of customer information including regular and irregular inspection procedures, procedures for dealing with problems relating to customers and their complaints, procedures for returning change to customers and paying water fees collected by customer management staff.

The lessons learnt and value added to the company can be attributed to the implementation of public awareness raising campaigns. The company has developed the Customer Regulations which have been sent to its customers, providing them with information about the company’s services. Quality commitments and SOPs for the dealing of complaints and problems are also included in the regulations in order to provide the customers with enough information about the standard services they expect from the company.

The company agreed upon the idea that customers are almost always right.

The customer data collected from Customer Management Department, Network Management Department and comments and complaints directly submitted by the customers has been managed.

Changes made to the practice of customer management during WWM project:

During the implementation of the project, the company has been provided with guidance on:

+ The development of a Job Description for each staff in the department;

+ The implementation of community awareness raising programs through such activities as opening WWTPs for public visit, organizing painting competitions on environment at schools, holding art performance on environment protection at wards and communes.

At the same time, the customer management staff has been trained on communication and customer care skills, making them more professional.

There remain some shortcomings, however. The data bank of customers’ complaints has only been manually updated without full application of management software.

3. Planned activities to be carried out in the Customer Management Department

- Complete SOPs for the Customer Management Department.

Develop a job description for each staff in cooperation with Administration – Personnel Department.

Develop the company’s plan for dissemination of information relating to the company among its customers and the community.

4. Recommendations:

- Provide the Customer Management Department with enough staff.

- Provide the Department with all the facilities mentioned in the approved establishment proposal.

- Hold training courses on customer care for customer management staff (Board of director to be in charge.

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June 2009 - Study Tour to Da Lat and Vung Tau

Implementing the study tour schedule attached to the official letter dated 25th May, 2009 sent to Vinh City Infrastructure Development & Management JSC by TC Component 2 “Capacity Building in Wastewater Management” (WWM Project), the Project conducted a study tour in Lam Dong Water Supply & Sewerage Company and Ba Ria-Vung Tau Water Supply, Sewerage & Urban Development Company on 7-13th June, 2009. The list of participants in study tour is presented as follows:

Vinh City People Committee

- Mr. Nguyen Van Tho - Vice Director, Management Unit for Public Funds

- Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan - Expert, Management Unit for Public Fund

- Mr. Nguyen Quoc Thang - Deputy Head of Urban Management Division

Vinh City Infrastructure management and development JSC

- Mr. Dinh Tien Dung - Vice Director

- Mr. Bui Quang Tao - Head of Organizational and Administrative Department

- Ms. Vu Thi Quy - Head of Finance and Accounting Department cum Chief Accountant

- Ms. Tran Thi Kim Loan - Head of Customer Relation Management Department

- Mr. Tran Tien - General Accounant

- Mr. Dang Quang Thong - Deputy Head of Technical-Design Counsultancy and Construction Department

- Mr. Hoang Hong Khanh - Head of Sewerage Management Team

Vinh City Infrastructure Management & Development JSC in collaboration with Vinh City delegation would like to report the results of the study tour in the above mentioned companies as follows:

1. Comments on Study Tour in WWM Division, Lam Dong Water Supply & Sewerage Company.

The delegation visited Lam Dong Water Supply & Sewerage Company and learned about actual situation of wastewater treatment plant, which was invested comprehensively including household connection, pumping station and wastewater treatment plant. The effluents from this wastewater treatment plant discharging into sewerage system meet the environmental standards. The scope of sewerage system in Lam Dong, which has 7,200 household connections in 5 wards, is still smaller than the scope of sewerage project in Vinh City. However, the delegation recognized that the WWM Division of Lam Dong Water Supply & Sewerage Company has faced difficulties in the management and operation of wastewater treatment plant. Through this visit to WWM Division, Vinh city can identify issues to be addressed and learn experience for its future management and operation as follows:

- Vinh City needs to establish WWM Division, which will be under the management of Vinh City Infrastructure Management & Development JSC and have sufficient capacity and equipment to manage the sewerage system in Vinh City.

- The project on organization and operation of WWM Division should be prepared in a proper and scientific manner. It should be include such parts as regulations on urban wastewater disposal, internal policies, standard operation procedures, organizational structure consisting of highly qualified and professional personnel in order to meet the future required tasks.

- Economic and technical norms in urban wastewater disposal should be established and approved timely in order to apply in management and operation of sewerage system in Vinh City.

2. Comments on Study Tour in Ba Ria-Vung Tau Water Supply, Sewerage and Urban Development Company.

The first impression on Ba Ria-Vung Tau Water Supply, Sewerage & Urban Development is that this is a typical model of Wastewater Management Company for other similar companies in the whole country to learn experience. Based on the organization, management, operation, enterprise culture etc and science & technology development strategy, this company has gained a lot of successes in a short period after the establishment.

Ba Ria-Vung Tau Water Supply & Sewerage Company has built good internal and external relations; establish internal solidarity and unity to joint the efforts and ideas among company management and staff for the construction and development of the whole company. This is the strength of Ba Ria-Vung Tau Water Supply, Sewerage & Urban Development.

3. Overall Comments of Study Tour Delegation

Thanks to supporting and cooperation from WWM Project, Vinh City delegation had a chance to visit to two typical companies (Lam Dong Water Supply & Sewerage Company, Ba Ria-Vung Tau Water Supply, Sewerage & Urban Development Company) and learned useful lessons from them.

This is a study tour through which we can learn practical lesions in state management of wastewater disposal. This study tour helps the delegation to indentify the nature, scope an management style of wastewater disposal in Vinh City in the present time as well as in the future, accordingly advise to Vinh City People Committee in developing institutional issues, approving economic-technical norms of wastewater disposal in a proper and effective manner in order to contribute to the improvement of Vinh City environmental sanitation.

Through the experience of the two hosting companies in urban wastewater management and disposal, management of Vinh company as well as other participants of the study tour can understand the organization, operation and management of WWM Division that will be established in the future and required a well qualified and professional staff to undertake the management and operation of future wastewater treatment plant.

We express our sincere thanks to WWM Project’s organization team of the study tour, CTA as well as WWM Consultants for supporting the delegation of Vinh City during the study tour.

The delegation of Vinh City would like to report the results of the study in Lam Dong Water Supply & Sewerage Company and Ba Ria-Vung Tau Water Supply, Sewerage & Urban Development Company.

June 2007 - Study Tour to Germany

Why a study tour?

A crucial factor for the successful implementation of every project is the creation of a common perception as well as sufficient awareness of and knowledge about essential project matters by all concerned project stakeholders. In the case of WWM, political decision makers of the six partner provinces and their directors of the local wastewater service providers where invited to study wastewater management objectives in Germany. The study tour provided, among others, important information on framework conditions, management structures, tariff applications and wastewater technologies.

Who and when?

The study tour to Germany was organized by the WWM team from June 08^th to 17^th, 2007. Delegations of all six provinces, including the wastewater companies’ directors and representatives of the provincial governments, as well as representatives of the MoC and the Vietnam Water and Wastewater Association formed, together with the Chief Technical Advisor and other project experts, a group of 21 delegates visiting several institutions in 5 cities in Germany.

Content

A presentation held by the German Association for Water and Wastewater (DWA) marked the kick-off to the study tour in the first afternoon upon arrival in Frankfurt/Main. Besides international training courses offered by DWA, the association’s role in the development of industry standards in water and sanitation was addressed.

In the following the participants visited the cities of Frankfurt, Berlin, Potsdam, Bitterfeld, Halle/Saale, Leipzig and Wiesbaden. Visiting the public utility company of Halle/Saale (Stadtwerke Halle GmbH) and its subordinated Water and Sewerage Company, one of Germany’s most modern wastewater treatment plants, provided the participants close insights into both the institutional as well as the practical matters of efficient wastewater management.

Critical issues such as the application of cost-covering wastewater customer tariffs and the legal framework of wastewater operators were discussed in detail. Likewise, topics such as customer management, billing and money collection, public relations and corporate design, asset documentation, monitoring of indirect dischargers, O&M and investment into the sewer network were equally stressed.

Having gone through a similar process themselves just 15 years ago, the cities of Halle/Saale and Leipzig were outstanding showcases for the challenges the Vietnam’s water and wastewater sector is facing during the present transformation, from a planned to a market oriented economy. The experiences gained by the Halle Water and Sewerage Company in the years after Germany’s reunification are good lessons and demonstrated many similarities to current developments in Vietnam. However, the 100 year long history of wastewater treatment and management in Germany made it clear that Vietnam is at the starting point, with a long way ahead; hence, present investments, made by KfW in the six cities, can only be considered as a first step.

Other highlights of the tour included a reception by the implementing agencies GTZ and KfW, a visit to the KSB pump production facility in Halle/Saale, and discussions about organizational development of wastewater operators at Sachsen Wasser GmbH in Leipzig. The tightly structured program was strongly focused on the WWM project’s key subjects. All participants assessed the study tour as very helpful for providing deeper insights into the reality of wastewater management and it was judged as a useful input for the Vietnamese wastewater sector.

Other non project related activities, comprising sight-seeing tours in Berlin and Potsdam, the visit of a brand-new BMW production plant in Leipzig, dragon-boat rowing and picnic, and a cruise on the river Rhine provided an excellent balance between work and recreation, and as such, significantly contributed to the improvement of interpersonal relations between all participants.

The most remarkable comment during the final meeting was made by the vice chairman of the peoples committee of Can Tho saying: “quote” …before the study tour I new nothing about wastewater management and I was not aware, now I got some ideas about the subject and I start worrying…”unquote”.

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