HCM City districts aim to bring water to more residents

HCM City (VNA) – Authorities in HCM City’s outlying districts plan to cooperate with local water supply companies to lay pipes to achieve their target of supplying clean water to all households by the end of this year.

Speaking at a two-day meeting which ended on April 14 by the city People’s Council’s Economic and Policy Board, Ly Hieu Thanh, Deputy Chairman of Hoc Mon District, said the Saigon Water Corporation (Sawaco) would install 416km of pipes for the purpose.

The district would build more water pumping stations and water meters and install more water supply tanks for households in areas without pipes.

Around 51 percent of the district’s 86,432 households have access to clean water, with Tan Hiep and Tan Xuan communes having the lowest rates of such households.

This figure increases from only 8.4 percent recorded in 2011.

Nguyen Van Truong, Deputy Chairman of Binh Chanh District, said the district authorities plan to install water meters for 34,336 households and 433 tanks to supply another 42,200 households and build water pumping stations.

But the process would be slow, he feared.

Only 50 percent of the district’s 155,643 households get clean water, he added.

Many of those without clean water live in the communes of Da Phuoc, Vinh Loc A and B.

However, a paradox is occuring in the Hoc Mon District. Many households there do not use clean water although they have water meters installed.

A representative of Trung An Water Supply Company, a Sawaco subsidiary, said the rate is 26 percent, with many households being in the communes of Ba Diem, Dong Thanh, and Thoi Tam Thon.

Nguyen Van Lam of the Economic and Policy Board said communications should be strengthened to help households that do not use clean water understand the benefits of clean water to avoid waste.-VNA