VietNamNet Bridge – Drinking water fountains will be set up at railway stations, airports, tourist attractions, other public places and a couple of main roads in HCM City in 2015.

A citizen takes water from a drinking water fountain installed by Sawaco in HCMC’s District 1.

Saigon Water Corporation (Sawaco) will cover an estimated cost of US$2.5 billion between now and 2025 to perfect its water supply system, with hydration stations to be installed.

Tran Dinh Phu, general director of Sawaco, said tap water provided by his firm had met clean water standards. However, to make running water safe to drink, Sawaco must invest in more advanced processing technology and replace old pipelines, said Phu.

He was speaking at a meeting with the economic and budgetary department of the HCMC People’s Council on Thursday over the plan for water supply to the city in the coming years.

The HCMC Government has approved a pilot project to build a network supplying drinkable tap water in Thu Thiem New Urban Area. This project will receive support from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), said Phu.

From now to 2025, Sawaco will develop a water supply network across suburban areas. The cost of investment in water supply is very large, over US$200 million each year, of which Sawaco can cover only 60%, said Phu.

From now to 2015, Sawaco will need VND18.72 trillion to invest in water supply, but it can only cover VND3.3 trillion. The remainder must be raised from other sources, including a VND3.15-trillion grant from the state budget, a VND1.56-trillion interest-free loan, VND3.27- trillion in ODA loans and some VND7.5 trillion from joint ventures.

Currently, 89% of households in the inter-city areas have access to clean water, while the percentage in suburban districts is only 56.1%. Some districts still have a quite low percentage of households with access to running water, such as Hoc Mon (6%) and District 12 (34%).

Sawaco now supplies 1.6 million cubic meters per day, which will rise to 2.4 million in 2015, when the percentage of households provided with clean water will also increase to 92%.

At the meeting on Thursday, Phu said Sawaco was drawing up a water price roadmap for the 2014-2018 period. Sawaco will accurately calculate the costs of water production to ensure water prices will not have a major impact on citizens and encourage participatory development of water supply projects in the city.

As per the water price roadmap for the 2010-2013 period approved by the HCMC government, Sawaco can raise water prices by a maximum of 10% each year. Water prices currently average out at VND5,300 per cubic meter.    

Source: SGT