Using Foreign Direct Investment To Improve Urban Environmental Infrastructure And Services ? The Case Of Hanoi, Vietnam | Nguyen Thi Binh Minh, A.T.M. Nurul Amin & Hideharu Morishita

Rapid pace of urbanization and lack of resources to provide Urban Environmental Infrastructure and Services (UEI&S) is leading to severe urban environmental problems in developing countries. Another phenomenon that is taking place at the same time in the cities of developing countries is arrival and, in some cases, rapid increase in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). It is important to know how resource poor cities of developing countries can improve their urban environment by using FDI for the provision of infrastructure and services: an essential component of the Urban Environmental Management (UEM). Although both FDI and UEM are well-researched fields of study, the nature of the link between two has not been studied. This paper presents a conceptual framework for the study of this link for Hanoi-Vietnam. The central question that has emerged from this work is how to involve foreign/ private investors in the provision of UEI&S, especially in water supply and sanitation sector in Hanoi. The research question was why it is difficult to attract FDI in the water and sanitation sector in Hanoi/ Vietnam and what is it that Vietnamese/Hanoi governments should do to involve foreign investors into provision of this infrastructure? This research also touches on the related issue of recent involvement of increasing number of actors in the urban scene; devolved city governments, international organizations and multinational infrastructure companies.