More than 2,000 of the 2,300 households in Yen Phong commune in northern Ninh Binh province now have access to potable water thanks to loans provided by the Bank for Social Polices, according to Pham Quoc Tuan, vice chairman of the commune People’s Committee.

Pham Manh Yen, the bank’s director, said since 2004, loans worth 1.2 billion VND (64,500 USD) had been given to residents in the commune to install water pipes, and build tanks and upgrade toilets.

Tuan said eight years ago, residents had had to rely on wells for their fresh water needs.

He said two water plants had been built with money provided by the State, the local authority and residents.

“My family didn’t have any savings, let alone millions of Vietnamese dong to install water pipes and a tank,” Le Van Cuong, a local resident, said.

Tuan added that residents were reluctant to go to the expense of paying to connect to the mains, but were now able to thanks to bank loans.” Nearly 400 poor households in the commune now have access to running water,” Yen said.

He said that each household was offered a five-year loan of 3-4 million VND (160-210 USD) at a preferential interest rate.

The model has now been expanded to other communes in Yen My, Yen Phu, Yen Thanh districts.

Yen said as of 2004, the bank has disbursed loans worth nearly 10 billion VND (540,000 USD) to residents to connect to the mains water supply. He said a further 3 billion VND (160,000 USD) would be disbursed this year./.