Saigon Water Corporation (Sawaco), the key supplier of tap water in Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City, targets to provide clean water for nearly 92% of the city’s population by 2015, Sawaco General Director Tran Dinh Phu said at a recent meeting. Sawaco aims to expand its daily capacity to 2.39 million cubic meters in 2015 from the current 1.3 million and reduce the rate of water leakage to 30%-32% from 40% currently by that year, the state-run Vietnam News Agency cited Phu as saying. By end-2009, 1.03 million households in HCM City gained access to clean water, an increase of 349,717 ones against 2005. Sawaco expects to benefit 1.07 million families in 22 out of 24 districts, equaling to 85% of total population, by the year-end. The water supplier also estimated to need $4 billion to upgrade its water pipeline systems by 2025. (Vietnam News Aug 9)
