As published in MOST website on 10 April 2019

On 5 April 2019 in Hai Phong city, Ms. Valerie Cliff - Deputy Regional Director of United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Asia and the Pacific and Ms. Caitlin Wiesen - Resident Representative of UNDP Viet Nam had a meeting with Thanh Phuc Mechanical and Construction Material Joint Stock Company (Beneficiary of the results from the Project’s support) and Project’s partners.

Mr. Dao Xuan Lai - Assistant Resident Representative, Head of Environment and Climate Change Department, UNDP Viet Nam; Mr. Nguyen Dinh Hau - Director General of Department of Science and Technology for Economics - Technical Branches, Ministry of Science and Technology, National Director of the Project “Promotion of Non-Fired Bricks Production and Utilization in Viet Nam”; representatives of Building Materials Department and Science - Technology and Environment Department, Ministry of Construction; Mr. Duong Ngoc Tuan - Director of Hai Phong Department of Science and Technology; Mr. Tran Duy Canh - President and CEO, Thanh Phuc Mechanical and Construction Material Joint Stock Company attended the meeting. The event attracted the attention of a number of central and local news agencies.

At the meeting, Mr. Duong Ngoc Tuan presented to Ms. Valerie Cliff and participants some information related to the development of non-fired bricks (NFB) in Hai Phong such as: The city had instructed to stop all fired clay brick production facilities polluting the environment, in early in 2018 the city stopped issuing operating license for new fired clay brick projects and developed NFB technology. As Thanh Phuc Company of Hai Phong was selected to participate in the demonstration activities of the Project, Mr. Tuan highly appreciated the effectiveness of the Project’s technical support for the Company and expected the Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of Construction and UNDP to continue the support for Hai Phong not only for NFB but also for other development areas.

In assessing the impact of the Project, Mr. Tran Duy Canh - President and CEO, Thanh Phuc Company said: The production and business state of the Company still faces difficulties in the context of intense competitive market. However, with the Project’s technical support from 2016 up to now, the Company has improved its production technology capacity, productivity and product quality through the following activities: (i) Developing a highly-automated NFB production demonstration model which has been widely introduced to investors, through that the Company has produced and supplied to the market 31 NFB production lines in 2017, 30 lines in 2018, making important contributions to NFB development of Viet Nam; (ii) Completing the heat treatment technology process for making NFB moulds and other parts in the NFB production lines, thus the durability of the moulds has been increased by 30-40% and is trusted by consumers; and (iii) Establishing and issuing basic standards for concrete bricks (Now in progress). So far, the Company has exported equipment to a number of countries such as Thailand, Laos, Korea, India and Portugal ...

Ms. Valerie Cliff - Deputy Regional Director of UNDP in Asia and the Pacific expressed a special impression and highly appreciated the effectiveness of the Project's technical support for the enterprises participating in the Project including Thanh Phuc Company in the technological application & innovation, results, lessons learned should therefore be disseminated and replicated. She also emphasized that the development of production and utilization of NFB for construction works has contributed to saving agricultural land use, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, minimizing environmental pollution, ensuring working conditions and the health of the people, and also acknowledged that the policies on NFB development of Viet Nam have been implemented effectively. She also expressed her pleasure that Viet Nam's success in socio-economic development is linked to the protection of natural resources, environment and sustainable development, and said that UNDP will continue to support the implementation of the Project’s objectives in the coming time.

On behalf of the Ministry of Science and Technology, Mr. Nguyen Dinh Hau thanked the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and UNDP for the financial and technical supports in implementing the Project, and expressed his determination to implement the Project with the highest efficiency. Accordingly, in addition to technical support activities, the Project is currently promoting communication activities to raise awareness for all stakeholders, helping the community better understand the benefits of the production and utilization of NFB in construction works.

Also in the framework of the working visit, Ms. Valerie Cliff and participants visited the factory manufacturing NFB equipment and production lines of Thanh Phuc Company being in operation, visited selected typical construction works using NFB in Hai Phong city./.