Nghe An still has 110,000 people in rural areas who do not have access to clean water.

Specifically, among the 15 projectsclean water in rural areasWhile construction was underway, six projects were completely stopped, leaving nearly 110,000 people in rural areas homeless by summer.lackclean, hygienic waterfor use. For daily life, people are forced to use it at exorbitant prices, from 50 to 80 thousand VND/m3.

Water filtration tank category of Quynh Tho clean water project over 5,000 m2 has been invested quite completely. Although 11 out of the total 27 billion VND have been constructed, it was forced to stop in 2018 due to lack of capital. Photo: Nguyen Hai

Faced with the above reality, entering the 2016-2020 term, Nghe An province has made efforts to arrange and integrate 41 billion VND for projects, including 16.3 billion VND from the capital source of the National Target Program on urban construction.New rural areas(NTM) and 24.8 billion VND from the provincial budget (in 2020 alone, 3.9 billion VND was allocated) for clean water projects.

In order for rural people to have clean and hygienic water to use, it is necessary to have the cooperation of businesses. In the photo: Students of Muong Long Primary School (Ky Son) thanks to sponsorship from businesses have clean water to use. Photo: Nguyen Hai

Thanks to that, 7 projects have been completed and put into use; 2 projects have been connected and supplied water to households in 2020 and 2021, namely the domestic water supply project in Lien Thanh commune (Yen Thanh) with 674 households and the domestic water supply project in Dien Minh commune (Dien Chau) with over 400 households; 6 projects under construction were forced to stop.

The water project in Dien Minh commune (Dien Chau) received budget support exceeding the estimate by 120%, but the local counterpart fund was still lacking, so only 400 households out of the total 900 households as designed were connected. Photo: Document

According to the approved capital plan, from 2012 to 2021, Nghe An province will invest 291,652 billion VND to implement 15 rural water supply projects, of which the budget supports 189.9 billion VND; local capital, people and other mobilized capital 101,716 billion VND.

The desolate scene of Quynh Tho Water Plant after 3 years of suspension due to lack of investment and counterpart capital. Photo: Nguyen Hai

By May 2021, the province had mobilized 144 billion VND, of which the budget support source was 122,556 billion VND, capital from localities, people and other mobilization was 22,753 billion VND to implement items for the above 15 projects.

Currently, the remaining source is 146.3 billion VND, of which the investment support budget is 67.385 billion VND and local capital, people and other mobilized capital is 78.9 billion VND.

While people in Tho Nhan and Tho Phu hamlets have to buy water at 80,000 VND/m3, fresh water from the reservoir of the Quynh Tho Commune Clean Water Project is pumped by neighboring households to use for shrimp farming. Photo: Nguyen Hai

Since the beginning of 2021, implementing the direction of the Provincial People's Committee and the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, the Center has reviewed and advised and proposed to the province to supplement and balance the budget to repay debts and settle completed projects; supplement the budget to completely complete 3 projects: domestic water supply in Quynh Tho commune (Quynh Luu), Tay Thanh and Minh Thanh (Yen Thanh). In addition, consider and allow the conversion to PPP investment for 3 water supply projects in Dien Quang commune (Dien Chau); Quynh Lam (Quynh Luu) and Phuc Thanh (Yen Thanh).

Mr. Lam Duy Thuong - Director of Nghe An Center for Clean Water and Rural Environment

Due to the lack of clean and hygienic fresh water, rural people in the coastal areas, at the end of the Dien Chau and Quynh Luu rivers, have to hire wells to get water for use. Photo: Quang An

Learning more, we learned that to restart unfinished projects, Nghe An needs about 147 billion VND in capital, of which the budget supports 2/3, the rest is from local counterpart funds, socialized investment or preferential loans...

According to recent information, due to the urgent need for domestic water this summer, the Provincial People's Committee has agreed to allocate an additional 20 billion VND to the 2021 medium-term capital plan to continue constructing two projects: Quynh Tho Water Plant (Quynh Luu) and Minh Thanh Commune (Yen Thanh).

The settling tank of Quynh Tho Water Plant in 2020 was occupied by a household for aquaculture. Now it has been returned to the Project Management Board but moss is still growing. Photo: Nguyen Hai