Vietnam Needs $2.15B for Rural Clean Water, Environment Program by 2015

Vietnam is estimated to need VND45 trillion ($2.15 billion) for a clean water supply and environmental sanitation program in the 2011-2015 period, Minister of Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development Cao Duc Phat said.
Of the sum, VND8.9 trillion will come from the state budget, VND4.52 trillion from the provincial budget and VND8.9 trillion from domestic and foreign donors. Up to now, local and international donors have pledged a combined of $112.1 million for the program, making up 5% of its total estimated investment, he attributed. The program will focus on controlling water quality, building tap water supply and environmental sanitation networks as well as prevent water-related diseases, he added. The country aims to raise the rate of rural people using tap water to 95% and the threshold for rural households having hygienic latrines will be 75% by 2015. As many as 60% of rural families are expected to have hygienic breeding facilities, while 60% of communes will have domestic waste collection systems by the year. Vietnam is estimated to have more than 20,000 citizens died of diseases related to unhygienic and dirty water per year, half of the death toll is blamed for diarrhea. (Thoi Bao Kinh Te Viet Nam – Vietnam Economic Times Feb 28 p2)