Vietnam needs to issue policies to encourage private-run companies to get involved in water supply and drainage projects in an effort to improve quality of tap water in urban areas, said the World Bank. The government should have transparent investment incentives, particularly the public-private partnership (PPP) model in this sector with an aim to raise the number of people accessing safe water in urban areas, said Victoria Kwakwa, country director of the World Bank (WB) in Vietnam. Since 1998, Vietnam has spent VND96 trillion ($904 million) official development assistance (ODA) on 51 water supply projects but private firms participated in few projects, the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) said. The country may need roughly VND68 trillion ($323 million) for building an infrastructure system for this sector by 2020, the World Bank forecast. The country has total water supply capacity of 6.9 million cubic meters per day. The rate of urban people using clean tap water is 80% and the loss of running water is around 25%. (Dau Thau – Procurement Nov 25 p4)
