On July 7, 2017 a drainage system was inaugurated in North Cho Lau town, 45 km to the north of Phan Thiet City. The construction is an investment part of the Belgian-Vietnamese project for integrated water management and urban development in relation to climate change. The Belgian Ambassador to Vietnam, Mrs. Jehanne Roccas, attended the ceremony together with the Chairman of the Provincial People’s Committee, Mr. Nguyen Ngoc Hai.

The work includes 4,110 meters of urban drain and a rock protected outlet to the Luy river. The works will help to reduce flooding impacts and hygiene concerns during periods of heavy rain to approximately 3,000 people, which would also indirectly benefit to the entire population of the town. The works are also a contribution towards modernizing the province's infrastructure to reduce hardships, promote continued economic development and to improve resilience with regard to climate change. With a population of 14,000, Cho Lau is a small but fast developing town in Bac Binh district of northern Binh Thuan province.

Historically, the area has been quite poor and the implementation of basic urban infrastructure has not kept pace with the rate of urbanization. As a result, several areas of the town are regularly affected by local flooding during storms. The flooding not only impacts on households directly, but also creates a health risk because the flooding causes the sewers to overflow. An urban drainage master plan for the town identifies the key problem areas and sets out the long-term solutions to address both current and future issues. Given that this is a high-priority issue for the local community and that climate change projections indicate trends for increasing rainfall intensity, support for the implementation of the master plan via the construction of the urban drainage improvement works was considered an appropriate activity to implement under the Belgian project.

The project is an ambitious and complex one, focusing on the rural areas and small towns in the vicinity of the Luy river. It supports a structured approach to climate change adaptation with an emphasis on water resources management, flood management and urban planning. Studies on climate change, river flooding, salinity, erosion and urban drainage are being linked with studies on the socio-economic situation and technical and institutional capacity assessment to inform the identification of current and future climate-related challenges for households and the regional economy. Findings will be integrated into a comprehensive climate change action plan and the revised master plan of Phan Ri Cua township. Strategic pilot investments on drainage, water supply, riverbank protection and flood mitigation target priority issues to enhance resilience and to reduce climate risk.

The project is expected to complete by June 2019.
BTC is also supporting Binh Thuan with a number of green growth activities, including the development of the provincial green growth action plan and pilot green growth investments in water efficient irrigation and solar powered LED public lighting, as part of the GGSF project.

The Ambassador expressed her appreciation for the strong and special relationship between Belgium and Binh Thuan, that started in 2006. The delegation also visited works from the sanitation and environment protection project in Phan Ri Cua and Lien Huong, completed in 2011, that provided and still provides improved environmental services to a population of around 70,000 people in water supply, sanitation, wastewater, drainage, solid waste management and environmental education.