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Poor people will have access to clean water
Long An - Under the Cuu Long Water Supply and Sanitation Project,
funded by the Australian Government, the construction of three new
water schemes have recently started in hamlets of Binh Hoa Bac
Commune, Long An province.
The new water schemes will provide water to 750 poor households in
three hamlets which at present have no water systems. The schemes are
expected to be ready by March 2006.
The Project takes special interest in poor households and is proposing
ways they can afford to connect to piped schemes which pass near their
houses. 520 other poor households are also the first priority to be
allocated rainwater collection and storage jars.
Those joining the piped water schemes will pay the connection fee of
around VND500,000 VND (which includes a meter and the cost of joining
a pipe to the main pipeline). For water (often rainwater) storage jars
and tanks, the poor households pay 10% of the cost, and other
households pay 20%.
The local community, the Commune’s People’s Committee (CPC) and the
Project discussed together possible water schemes and then drew up
realistic options for solutions to water needs. The community then
voted for their preference. Management of the systems will be a
partnership between them with technical supervision and training from
provincial Centre for Water Supply and Sanitation.
For those who are beyond the reach of feasible piped schemes, water
storage tanks, and in some cases handpumps, have been selected by the
people themselves.
“The Project demonstrates how to implement the “National Rural Clean
Water Supply and Sanitation Strategy up to year 2020” which proposes a
bottom-up approach in water supply”, said Mr Ray Miles, Project Team
Leader. “In particular, it has focused on how rural communities might
participate in the planning, construction and management of their
local piped water supply systems”.
Binh Hoa Bac is the first commune to start construction of the 40
targeted communes for the whole Project across five provinces which
are Kien Giang, Bac Lieu, Ben Tre, Vinh Long and Long An. As resulted,
400,000 rural poor will gain sustained access to improved water and
sanitation services, including 100,000 people living in three district
towns.
For further information please contact
Ms. Nguyen Diep Hoa
Public Affairs Officer AusAID, Australian Embassy
8 Dao Tan Street, HanoiTel: 84-4-8317755, ext: 196;
Email: Diep-Hoa.Nguyen@dfat.gov.au
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