Some 350,000 rural workers in six provinces, mostly in the parched central region, will have access to safe water supply thanks to a project funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
At a seminar to launch the project in Hanoi on November 17, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) Dao Xuan Hoc said the project was of primary significance to locals in the central region, where the rate of safe water users in its population is lower than the national average. The region is also prone to natural disasters, suffers saline water sources and is hit by high poverty rates.
Hoc added the Government has issued a number of incentive policies to encourage private investors to invest in safe water supply along with foreign assistance in order to increase the number of safe water beneficiaries.
Paul Van Klanveren, a representative from ADB in charge of the project in Vietnam said it is the first project on safe water supply and environmental hygiene that his employer has ever funded in the central region. He expected that the project would not only bring in more equality to people in disadvantaged areas but also help Vietnam sustain its socio-economic development.
The project will run until 2017 with investment totalling 50 million USD, of which ADB provides 45 million USD in credits and the rest is contributed by Vietnam.
MARD reported that the national target programme on rural safe water supply and environmental hygiene has helped up to 79 percent of the national population to access safe water supply and 54 percent of families build standard latrines.
The nation, however, is still coping with a number of challenges in this regard./.
At a seminar to launch the project in Hanoi on November 17, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) Dao Xuan Hoc said the project was of primary significance to locals in the central region, where the rate of safe water users in its population is lower than the national average. The region is also prone to natural disasters, suffers saline water sources and is hit by high poverty rates.
Hoc added the Government has issued a number of incentive policies to encourage private investors to invest in safe water supply along with foreign assistance in order to increase the number of safe water beneficiaries.
Paul Van Klanveren, a representative from ADB in charge of the project in Vietnam said it is the first project on safe water supply and environmental hygiene that his employer has ever funded in the central region. He expected that the project would not only bring in more equality to people in disadvantaged areas but also help Vietnam sustain its socio-economic development.
The project will run until 2017 with investment totalling 50 million USD, of which ADB provides 45 million USD in credits and the rest is contributed by Vietnam.
MARD reported that the national target programme on rural safe water supply and environmental hygiene has helped up to 79 percent of the national population to access safe water supply and 54 percent of families build standard latrines.
The nation, however, is still coping with a number of challenges in this regard./.
