Vietnam Needs $9B for Water Treatment Infrastructure Investment by 2030
Vietnam needs about $9 billion for water collection and treatment infrastructure investment by 2030 as the country’s clean water demand will rise by 32% from current, said Chairman of the Vietnam Water Supply and Sewerage Association Nguyen Ngoc Diep, citing a World Bank report.
Mr. Diep made the statement at a conference on climate change response in Hanoi on March 28. He noted that such an amount of money would be a challenge amid limited resources.
Head of the Institute of Environmental Science and Engineering Nguyen Viet Anh stated that the $9 billion investment would only be enough to cover basic needs.
In order to attract investments, Ms. Halla Maher Qaddumi, senior water economist at the World Bank, suggested the Vietnamese government develop strong financial policies and legal frameworks. She also recommended attracting investments from the private sector to replace old infrastructures with new ones.
Vietnam currently has around 750 water treatment plants, with a total daily capacity of over one million cubic meters. The rate of the urban population getting clean water access is over 92%, while the national average rate is only 17.5%. Several international organizations have estimated that Vietnam would need $30 billion to complete its water drainage infrastructure.