Viet Nam: Third Provincial Towns Water Supply and Sanitation

Water and other urban infrastructure and services - Urban flood protection - Urban policy, institutional and capacity development - Urban sanitation - Urban water supply

The water supply and sanitation systems in the project towns have been deteriorating because of lack of maintenance and investment. The inadequate water supply and sanitation systems in these towns have adversely affected the quality of life and health conditions of the people living in them. The five provincial towns are selected from among seven remaining provincial towns that have not received any external assistance in water supply and sanitation. Two district towns from two relatively poor provinces are included to balance the support to economic growth and the need o reach the poor. Access to safe water supply among these towns ranges from 18-55 percent among the provincial towns, and from 4-9 percent among the district towns. Similarly, septic tank coverage among the provincial towns ranges from 44-86 percent, and that among the district towns from 6-20 percent. Lack of access to safe water supply and sanitation facilities, combined with poor drainage systems, caused great health risks to the residents, especially the poor, who often live in flood-prone areas.

The Government's development framework and priorities are reflected in a series of development plans, policy statements, and ministerial decisions. The development targets and policies for urban water supply and sanitation are reflected in he Government's Orientation Plan for Development of Urban Water Supply to 2000, and the Draft Orientation Plan for Urban Drainage Development to 2020. For water supply, the targets by 2010 are (i) 100% coverage and 180 lpcd in Class 1 cities; (ii) 95% coverage and 150 lpcd in Class 2 cities; (iii) 90% coverage and 120 lpcd in Class 3, 4, and 5 towns; and (iv) 80% coverage and 80-100 lpcd in district towns and clusters. The targets for drainage, sewerage, and urban environmental sanitation are (i) improve and complete urban drainage and sewerage systems to ensure a minimum of 80-90 % coverage by 2020; (ii) require enterprises to have on-site treatment for toxic liquid waste; (iii) eliminate pit latrines in urban areas by 2005; (iv) provide waste collection systems that treat solid and liquid wastes; and (v) gradually rehabilitate and clean the canal systems. Complementing its water sector policies, the Government issued a strategy for the development of urban drainage in November 1998, which aims at reducing subsidies to the sector in the short term, and establishing financial mechanisms to ensure sustainability of urban drainage enterprises in the long term.

The project's expected outcomes were as follows:

(i) improved water supply and sanitation in the project towns

(ii) participation of local communities in local sanitation improvement

(iii) improved financial sustainability of the WSCs, and

(iv) introduction of local regulations on sanitation and environmental improvement.