Mikio Araki, Chairman of Japan’s Osaka municipal council, is visiting Ho Chi Minh City to explore possibilities for bilateral cooperation in clean water.

At his meeting with Vice Chairman of the HCM City People’s Committee Le Minh Tri on Oct. 28, the Osaka official affirmed that Osaka always treasures its ties with Ho Chi Minh City and wants to further its cooperation with Vietnam ’s biggest economic hub.

Tri underscored that Japan ’s ODA has contributed to HCM City ’s socio-economic development.

He noted that although HCM City has mobilised capital from society for socio-economic development, it is still in dire need of foreign capital, especially ODA, for infrastructure, transport, clean water and environmental sanitation projects.

Tri stressed that the city has paid special attention to clean water as in the meantime its water facilities can meet just 83 percent of the citizens’ needs.
As the city has set to fully meet water needs by 2025, it needs at least 4 billion USD for its water sector, Tri told the Osaka officials.

According to the Saigon Water Supply Corporation (Sawaco), the water plants in the city currently supply 1.5 million cu.m of water per day and plan to raise their capacity to 3.4 million cu.m by 2025.

Apart from receiving ODA from the World Bank, France and Spain , Sawaco has also established ties with the water supply departments of Osaka and Yokohama cities.

The third largest city in Japan , Osaka is also interested in transport and railway cooperation with Ho Chi Minh City./.