With a water loss rate of 34 percent, Ho Chi Minh City loses nearly 500,000 cubic meters among the total volume of 1.65 million cubic meters of water supplied each day by Saigon Water Corporation (Sawaco), Saigon Times Daily reports.

According to Tran Dinh Phu, general director of Sawaco, if the water loss volume is multiplied by the current water price (5,300 VND per cubic meter), nearly 2.7 billion VND is lost every day.

Sawaco targets to reduce the loss rate to 32 percent in 2015. However, to achieve this, Sawaco needs 10.3 trillion VND to upgrade the water supply network.

Phu said that the water loss reduction project funded by the World Bank helped the city’s central area to cut losses by around 100,000 cubic meters per day.

Ho Chi Minh City will be supplied daily with 300,000 cubic meters from Thu Duc water plant next year and another 300,000 cubic meters from Tan Hiep water plant in 2015.

According to Ho Chi Minh City chairman Le Hoang Quan, the city’s water supply system is quite old and needs to be upgraded. The city also plans to reduce the loss rate to 9-10 percent in 2020.

Sawaco will develop a clean water supply network in all rural areas in 2025.

Among 18.72 trillion VND needed in the 2013-2015 period, Sawaco can afford around 3.3 trillion VND.

The current rate of households supplied with clean water in the city’s central districts is 89 percent while in outlying districts it is only 56.1 percent. The rates are quite low in Hoc Mon (6percent), District 12 (34 percent) and Binh Chanh (76.5 percent).

Sawaco’s water supply will be increased from the current level of 1.65 million to 2.4 million cubic meters per day in 2015 to increase the rate of supplying clean water to 92 percent.-VNA