On April 2, 2021, the AFD Project Consulting Team organized a final workshop - Project preparation study for “Urban development and climate resilience in Bac Kan province”. Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Dinh Quang Tuyen attended and spoke at the workshop. The workshop also had the participation of Ms. Cécile Leroy - Program Manager of the European Union delegation in Vietnam and Ms. Virginie Bleitrach - Deputy Director of the French Development Agency in Vietnam.

 Overview of the workshop

Project preparation study for the “Urban development and climate resilience in Bac Kan province province” project is funded by the French Development Agency (AFD) with technical supervision support from the Cities Development Initiative Asia (CDIA). The project is managed and implemented by Bac Kan City  Project Management Unit for Construction with a total estimated investment of about 30 million Euro (846 billion VND). In addition, the Project also includes a non-refundable aid of 1.5 million Euro (42 billion VND) from the European Union (EU) through the Water and Natural Resources Management Facility (WARM Facility) to strengthen and improve capacity in issues related to responding to climate change in Bac Kan province.
Currently, the Project is in the research and preparation phase. The project preparation research phase  has been implemented since January 2021 and is expected to be completed in September 2021 to build a sustainable and integrated infrastructure investment program, taking into account the possibility of being resilient to climate change to serve the donor's loan approval process. In addition, this phase aims to build a roadmap for strengthening and improving capacity for agencies and units of Bac Kan province and city to be implemented within the framework of the WARM Facility. The final product of the project preparation research phase is an investment project proposal including (1) feasibility study report including preliminary design of proposed investment items and (2) roadmap for capacity improvement. The products of the project preparation research will be submitted to AFD for loans approval decision.
The kick-off workshop is an activity within the project preparation research framework to present initial research results and discuss the main contents and priorities of the Project with relevant agencies in the province. The consulting team will complete a kick-off report that summarizes opinions at the Workshop to submit to the Project Management Unit AFD and CDIA for study and consideration.
Speaking at the workshop, Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Dinh Quang Tuyen affirmed: This is a comprehensive project viewed from policy institutions, building projects to minimize climate change in the area and at the same time let the city maintain its role as a connection center in the province's socio-economic development value chain in the coming time.

Standing Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee Dinh Quang Tuyen

At the workshop, head of the AFD consulting team gave a general introduction about the “Urban development and climate resilience in Bac Kan province” project. Experts of the AFD consulting team provided information about the general construction planning of Bac Kan province and the development goals of Bac Kan city, and the AFD consulting team's assessment of the suitability of the "Landslide protection embankment" project. respond to climate change, protect people's lives, and serve agricultural production in Bac Kan province" for the general planning project of Bac Kan city; introduce an integrated approach to strengthening resilience to climate change; capacity building program objectives and local capacity building needs.
The workshop focused on discussing the project preparation study for “Urban development and climate resilience in Bac Kan province” project. This is a proposed investment project proposed by the Bac Kan City Project Management Unit for Construction to implement the following goals: Preventing erosion of Cau River banks and stream banks, protecting residential land and production land of the people of Bac Kan city; increasing the ability to drain floods, preventing flooding, protecting the environment, protecting the safety of property and lives of people in Bac Kan city and upstream areas during floods and the effects of climate change; creating corridors to prevent encroachment on river and stream beds, and preventing waste discharge from residential areas, industrial parks, factories, and companies in Bac Kan city; collecting wastewater from households along Nong Thuong stream and Pa Danh stream to the city's wastewater treatment plant.