Vietnam has spent VND96 trillion ($904 million) official development assistance (ODA) on 51 water supply projects since 1998, an official from the Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) said. Better management in water supplying sector has attracted more investment, Tran Tuong Lan, head of MPI’s Department of Infrastructure and Urban said at a recent conference. Privatization in state-owned water supplying enterprises has made the state management in this sector more effective, Mr. Lan said, adding that Vietnam has 40 out of 86 water supplying companies privatized so far. Lain Menzies, senior World Bank expert on water supply and sanitation in the East Asia-Pacific region, said that the privatized companies work more effectively than the state-owned enterprises, contributing to reducing the water loss. Vietnam may need roughly VND68 trillion ($323 million) for building an infrastructure system for this sector by 2020, according to World Bank. 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%. So far, other economic sectors have invested $289 million in this sector, Mr. Lan added. (Thoi Bao Kinh Te Viet Nam – Vietnam Economic Times Nov 19 p12)
