On November 6th, 2025, in Hanoi, Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Tuong Van had a meeting and worked with Ms. Neeta Pokhrel - Director in charge of the Pacific and Southeast Asia Group, Water and Urban Development Office at the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The meeting aimed to exchange and discuss ADB's support policies for Vietnam in the fields of urban development and technical infrastructure, environmental protection as well as cooperation orientations in the coming time.
At the meeting, Ms. Neeta Pokhrel highly appreciated the efforts of the Ministry of Construction in coordinating the implementation of ADB's technical assistance programs and projects, especially Project TA9417-VIE "Integrating climate change resilience and environmental protection to develop type II green cities".
Ms. Neeta Pokhrel shared that within the framework of the project, ADB has coordinated to organize many technical assistance activities, including a study tour to Australia from October 24 to November 2, 2025. The program aims to help Vietnam learn international experiences in water supply and drainage management, wastewater treatment, water pricing and reuse, as well as effective operating mechanisms of state-owned and private enterprises in this field.
Noting that the Ministry of Construction (after the merger) has now expanded its scope of state management to include the transport sector, Ms. Neeta Pokhrel proposed that future cooperation programs between the two sides should also include additional collaborative initiatives in the field of transportation.
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Working scene.
“ADB will continue to accompany the Ministry of Construction and Việt Nam in developing green, smart, and climate-resilient cities, and will be ready to provide financial and technical assistance as well as share international experience in urban infrastructure and water supply and drainage,” Pokhrel affirmed.
Speaking at the meeting, Deputy Minister Nguyễn Tường Văn thanked ADB for its practical support to Việt Nam’s construction sector in recent years and proposed several concrete cooperation directions in the two fields of urban development and technical infrastructure.
In the field of urban development, Van proposed ADB support research and integration of climate risk assessment into urban planning and development towards the goal of sustainable and inclusive development; cooperate in developing environmentally friendly public transport systems; enhance urban governance capacity through training programs, workshops, and expert exchanges; and share financial tools and public-private partnership (PPP) mechanisms to mobilize resources for urban development.
In the field of urban technical infrastructure, Deputy Minister Nguyen Tuong Van proposed that ADB support the review and supplementation of the system of standards and technical regulations in accordance with the requirements of smart urban development, and provide financial and technical support for green transport projects and the application of digital technology in infrastructure management and operation.
“The Ministry of Construction hopes that ADB will continue to support policy research on water supply and drainage management in Việt Nam, with priority issues such as strengthening service contract management, promoting PPP investment in the drainage and wastewater treatment sector, developing a pricing mechanism for interprovincial wholesale water supply, as well as optimizing asset management functions in this field,” Văn proposed.
At the conclusion of the meeting, Deputy Minister Nguyễn Tường Văn and Ms. Neeta Pokhrel agreed to assign the focal units to continue updating and reviewing the draft Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between the Ministry of Construction and ADB, while also identifying potential areas for expanding future cooperation, toward the goal of developing Vietnamese cities that are sustainable, climate-resilient, and aligned with international standards.