He prepared a project of establishing a model of completely new urban drainage company by himself and then quietly paddling in shallow water, creeping into sewers, researching for a "special treatment" of flooding and pollution. He also made his small company growing to reach national and international stature with over 10 branches and factories throughout the country and more than 1,000 employees having high incomes. He is Engineer Hoang Duc Thao, Chairman cum General Director of Ba Ria-Vung Tau Urban Sewerage and Development Company...

Labor Hero Hoang Duc Thao with the concrete system helping to stop the problem of excavation in the urban areas.

General Director paddling in shallow water and creeping into sewers

Many people were surprised about Mr. Hoang Duc Thao, the Deputy Director of Ba Ria-Vung Tau Project Management Unit of technical infrastructure prepared a project of establishing Ba Ria-Vung Tau Urban Sewerage and Drainage Company and applied for being as Director in 2013. Coming from a poor young man in a rural area in Kien Xuong, Thai Binh, he came to the South to set himself up in business. At the beginning, he worked as a construction worker of Ha Tien Cement Factory. He had gone through many ups and downs of life to become a project manager. In the life, most people are often towards the leisure, cleanliness. How many people volunteer to stick to the job relating to sewers and wastewater?

At that time, Vung Tau City was flooded in every rainy season. The wastewater was discharged directly into Bai Truoc, Bai Sau, tourism resorts that the residents complained so much. One day, at a newspaper’s front page, there was a headline with the title: "Streets become river!” Besides, there were many harsh calls: "How do you implement the project with the capital allocated continuously but the streets have been still flooded? Cat remains cat”… Those made his heart hurt! Then he soon realized inconsistencies in management, it was necessary to have a new model connecting the investors with operators, focusing the resources to solve the environmental problem in order to avoid "everybody’s business is nobody’s business". Ba Ria-Vung Tau became the first province with the model of urban development and drainage company.

Despite of being the director, he did not work at a desk but run here and there on the roads together with his workers. He always was present at any places where there were floods and obstructions. In many nights, he still stood by his workers paddling in dirty underground sewers to implement the task. He could not sleep for many nights when he thought of his subordinates sweeping into the sewers with the depth of 4m depth being dirty, full of unclean air, snakes, glass and they had to scooped each bucket of stinking mud and waste by their bare hands ... Due to growing from a worker, he understood their hard work. He wondered how could he do to resolve these problems?

Scientist going in the rain

He learnt about and found in Hanoi, specialized vehicles were used to dredging mud and waste, but the cost was up to 3-5 billion VND. Where to get money? For this reason, he for many months researched hardly by himself "Sewer cleaning winch machine”, it helped workers not have to sweep into the sewers with very cheap price, only 18 million VND.

Workers worked less hard, sewers were less obstructed but floods still remained. So he continued going in the rain, at night and went to the places where there were most of stagnant sludge and water. Sometimes, some workers were surprised to see him sitting by a manhole for a long time and then jumping down to the sewers to grope along and measure. Thereby, he discovered the "culprits" causing flooding were the small sewers casted manually with the length of 1m which should be replaced with the system of centrifugal concrete sewers with the length of 4m. The project was agreed by the provincial authority but it would make a series of workshops producing pipe losing their market share. This resulted that many people became vexed and wanted “to revenge” him. Continuously many days and nights, he received strange calls and messages with the content such as: "Stop the extravaganza project immediately" "," Hold your head! ". Even on site, at 2 am, tens of people moved towards and were aggressive to threat to kill him ... There were letters sent to the Ministry of Construction to accuse him and provincial leaders. His wife, children and colleagues advised him should stop. "If I stop, when would the pollution in the City can be stopped? Do we have to continue the “excavation song" like other cities? I dare to think and dare to do"- Finally, with his determination, his company removed most serious flooding places remaining from the previous years and ensured the connection for 370km of underground sewers.

Although he is not a professional scientist and has never used the State budget for scientific research he has set many records such as: being the Vietnamese who won the most prizes of VIFOTEC (5 times), being the first Vietnamese who won the most prizes of the scientific and technological innovation organizations in the world. In 2011, he was awarded the title “Hero of Labor”.

He had not sat still during the rains. Vung Tau is beautiful and poetic but after heavy rains, the rainwater mixing with wastewater flows directly into the beaches. He thought he should take part immediately! Continuing spending many days and nights on inspecting, researching, designing, he and his colleagues created the regulating lake system, channel, tidal interceptor gate, dikes and especially the new system for rainwater collection and odor control to discharge wastewater into the sea indirectly. However, when he created the main drainage axis of the city, the rainwater and wastewater flowing into the beach before seemed to flow back to the inner of the city itself... Then there were letters of accusation and sue him. During the Police Agency was still in investigation, in Le Hong Phong Street, when he and the workers were installing pipelines, hundreds of people flocked to oppose. Fortunately, the backflow phenomenon was just a partial problem due to the uncompleted system. Gradually, the drainage axis had become effective, made the city clean, beautiful without flooding. All citizens understood and thanked him. This technology has been ordered by many units such as Vietsovpetro, the Central provinces, Khanh Hoa Water Supply and Sewerage Company, many projects in Hanoi and has been taught in many universities.

Being an amateur, he can enrich by science

Sharing with us, Hoang Duc Thao frankly said that he learned not well, he only got the grade of "average" in secondary school as well as Financial University and he had never thought of scientific research, but the reality urged him to research and create in order to serve his work. Unexpectedly, those works became ... scientific inventions with national and international levels. Up to now, he is the author of 19 scientific and technological products which have been widely applied in the country and exported. In which, 05 projects were awarded the Vietnam scientific and technological creation (VIFOTEC). His works were very close to our life. In the field of mechanical technology, he created the sewer cleaning winch machine, vibration technology to manufacture reinforced concrete products with thin walls, the tidal gates for regulating, diluting and scouring contaminated water bodies to reduce environmental pollution in the canals and "dead" lakes. In the field of biotechnology, he created the decentralized urban and domestic wastewater treatment system; wastewater treatment technology for restaurants, hotels; wastewater treatment technology for seafood processing facilities. In the field of construction materials technology, he set up the plant manufacturing precast reinforced concrete equipment with thin walls and created 16 types of products for construction and environmental protection.

It is said that being the scientist is poor and working in the field of environment treatment is both poor and has a low social position. However, Mr. Hoang Duc Thao is not like that. With his scientific creations, he helped the company to grow from tens of employees to more than 1,000 ones with the annual revenue of hundreds of billions dongs. Now, the revenue increases 20 times, profit increases 10 times, budget remittance increases 163 times. The company is the 2^nd business issued the certificate of scientific and technology business and recognized as the unique business with the revenue of over 80% generated from science and technology products. The products have been widely applied in 30 provinces and cities and exported to Malaysia. The company has opened 10 branches, plants in the country.

We followed him to visit a plant in Ba Ria and seemed to get lost in a world of extremely useful concrete products. He passionately introduced us new products oriented to the countryside and farmers such as precast reinforced concrete channel system with thin walls with the price being 30% cheaper than the usual one; septic tank in rural areas, rainwater tanks and filters; precast concrete tomb. In series of products, there were some of new products created by him after just a news bulletin on TV. Watching the TV and reading newspaper talked much about climate change, he immediately manufactured concrete for salt-mash coastal areas. He worried about not only the problems at coastal areas but also in the forest: "When going to Da Lat, seeing the entertainment chute sliding system with the value of about tens of billions dongs, I had a flash of improving the assembled channel, slide system for interior field to make a chute helping the movement and transport of goods to the high land with a very cheap price". He said that, if there was a "bandmaster" with a reasonable mechanism applying advanced technologies, environmental problems and floods in Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh cities... can be treated. He was also very interested in charity work including offering the precast concrete products for the program of giving charity houses in the province.

Creations under the underground sewers, pavements and streets seem to be ordinary but they make the world surprised. At International Creativeness Exhibition 2009 (SIIF 2009) held in Seoul - Korea, he became the first and unique Vietnamese author winning the Special Award for Individual awarded by International Creators Association after 5 consecutive years when Vifotec Fund nominated Vietnam works to take part in. In Exhibition on International Environmental Technology in Singapore, Ms. Kayoko, the representative of Japanese Government said that "I am truly amazed at such useful environmental technological applications. I would like you to introduce these practical technologies to the Japanese."

Hearing about the lives of soldiers in Truong Sa island, islands and border regions, Mr.Thao said that: "Through the People's Army Newspaper, I would like to offer the soldiers in Truong Sa island, islands and border regions the reinforced concrete products with thin walls such as rainwater tanks and filters, channel, trenches, module for treating waste in the billets. We also wish to offer concrete products of civil construction for program of building charity house, " Frontier House" …