Foreign donors have pledged to continue their support for Vietnam’s efforts to achieve its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) on its rural water supply and environmental sanitation.

The commitments came after Vietnam and the donors gathered at an annual meeting in Hanoi on Sept. 25 to review the results of a national programme in this field.

Le Tuan Son, Chief of the Office of the National Centre for Rural Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation, reported that an additional 2.6 million rural people will be provided with safe water this year, bringing the total to 79 percent of the rural population.

As of now, only 59 percent of the households in rural areas have hygienic toilets, or 6 percent lower than the set target, Son said, adding that 26 percent of the capital earmarked for the project, equivalent to 1.5 trillion VND, was disbursed.

Kerry Groves, Councillor at the Australian Embassy, said Vietnam is unlikely to fulfil its MDGs on rural water supply and environmental sanitation by 2015 if the country fails to map out a strategy as well as a master plan.

He suggested direct decentralisation to local authorities in order to make the use of funding more transparent and professional.

Nguyen Kim Quy, Programme Officer at the Danish Embassy, said that despite its endeavours, Vietnam has obtained disappointing results in implementing the project, therefore it is necessary to promote the trial application of new approaches to environmental sanitation.

The programme requires more than 7.3 trillion VND to operate from now through 2010, but the state budget is only able to meet a small part of the amount, some 1.4 trillion VND. The rest is expected to be mobilised from donors./.