Hanoi aims to supply clean water to all by 2020

Hanoi (VNA) – Hanoi has set a target that all citizens will have access to clean, drinkable tap water by 2020, affirmed Chairman of the city People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung at a meeting on June 13 with local authorities and businesses on measures to develop the city’s water system.

The municipal leader stressed that the city considers supplying clean water to locals a way to improve living standards. He urged water supply plants to apply high technology by 2018.

To encourage businesses to invest in water supply in rural areas, the city will help connect them with banks, while allocating up to 1 trillion VND in soft loans to assist the firms, especially those investing in projects in My Duc, Me Linh, Chuong My, Thuong Tin and Phu Xuyen districts, he said.

At the meeting, he also listened to businesses’ difficulties and sought measures to support them.

He also asked for the speeding up of construction of new water plants and the expansion of existing ones to provide water to locals in wider areas.

As part of efforts to call for business engagement in water supply, the city has allowed 10 investors to implement 20 projects in 75 communes with more than 180,000 households and 730,000 people.

The projects are expected to raise the ratio of rural residents accessing clean water to about 54 percent. Some of them became operational in 2016, benefiting about 60,000 locals.-VNA