Vietnam Oks More Finland Aid to Water Supply, Sanitation Program

The Vietnamese government has approved an additional EUR130,000 in aid from the Finnish government for the country’s Water and Sanitation Program for Small Towns Phase II (WSPST-II). The Ministry of Construction has been empowered to finalize legal procedures for the adjustment and gathered ideas from other agencies for efficient use of the fund. The WSPST-II totaling EUR13.2 million is designed to support the construction and management of water supply and sanitation works in the four northern mountainous provinces of Ha Giang, Tuyen Quang, Yen Bai and Cao Bang. In the first phase, the program was carried out in provinces of Bac Kan, Thai Binh, Hung Yen and Haiphong City with a total investment of EUR20.8 million. Currently, Vietnam has about 28 million people in 700 cities, of which 600 are small towns or townships where many have not yet got access to essential infrastructure of water supply and sanitation environment. It is estimated that the Southeast Asian country now has more than 20,000 citizens died of water-borne diseases per year, half of the death toll is blamed for diarrhea, experts noted. (baodientu.chinhphu.vn April 12)