U.S. finances dioxin clean-up at Bien Hoa Air Base

This announcement represents the U.S.' commitment to the partnership with Viet Nam, said Aler Grubbs, USAID/Viet Nam Mission Director, adding that this contract will complete critical preparatory work, paving the way for the treatment phase of the project. 

This marks the largest contract yet by USAID to a local Vietnamese organization, as we make a concerted effort to build Vietnamese expertise in this nascent area of environmental health and safety, he added. 

USAID is working with the Ministry of National Defense (MND) to remediate approximately 500,000 cubic meters of dioxin-contaminated soil and sediment on and around the Bien Hoa Air Base. 

USAID previously completed the clean-up of dioxin contamination at Da Nang Airport in 2018. The Bien Hoa clean-up effort involves nearly four times the volume of soil as the Da Nang Airport clean-up. 

USAID and MND launched the Bien Hoa project in April 2019. In June 2022, USAID completed the remediation of the first parcel of land—a community lake located outside of Gate 2. 

The whole project is expected to take the MND and U.S. Government 10 years and cost an estimated US$450 million. The U.S. Government's contribution to-date is US$163.25 million out of a total expected contribution of US$300 million. 

In 2023, the U.S. and Viet Nam will celebrate the 10-year anniversary of their Comprehensive Partnership. The close cooperation over the past decades to overcome legacies of war is yet another example of how the U.S. and Viet Nam work strategically together to create a better future for two peoples.