The US-based non-governmental organisation East Meets West and the northern province of Thai Nguyen on November 26 inked an agreement on a non-refundable aid for a clean water and environmental sanitation project in the locality.

The 687,510 AUD (627,600 USD) water, sanitation and hygiene output-based aid project will be carried out to 2017.

Of the total, 500,000 AUD (456,400 USD) will be spent on expanding and upgrading water facilities while the remainder will be used to improve environmental sanitation.

Relevant agencies such as the provincial Women’s Union and the Bank for Social Policies are assigned to encourage local households to join in the project and to support their access to preferential loans.

There are now 154 centralised water supply facilities in the province, yet some of them haven’t proved effective due to a shortage of capital for upgrading.-VNA