The Ministry of Construction and the World Bank in Vietnam on Jan. 12 held a meeting in the southern city of Can Tho to review implementation results of a project to upgrade six urban areas in the Mekong Delta region.

Approved by the Prime Minister in October last year, the project is part the national urban upgrade strategy to improve living conditions for people in the Mekong Delta region by 2020.

It involves upgrading water supply and sewerage systems in Can Tho, My Tho, Ca Mau, Tra Vinh, Cao Lanh and Rach Gia cities.

The project has a total investment of 600 million USD, 65 percent of which came from the World Bank and the remainder from Vietnam.

Once completed, it is expected to benefit 142,000 people directly and nearly 1.4 million indirectly. About 12,055 families will be provided with loans, each worth 20-30 million VND, to repair their houses.

The urban upgrading programme was launched in 2007 in HCM City , the northern provinces of Nam Dinh and Hai Phong and the southern province of Can Tho . About 2.2 million people in the four localities have so far benefited from the programme./.