With a water loss rate of 34 percent, Ho Chi Minh City loses nearly500,000 cubic meters among the total volume of 1.65 million cubic metersof water supplied each day by Saigon Water Corporation (Sawaco), SaigonTimes Daily reports.

According to Tran Dinh Phu,general director of Sawaco, if the water loss volume is multiplied bythe current water price (5,300 VND per cubic meter), nearly 2.7 billionVND is lost every day.

Sawaco targets to reduce theloss rate to 32 percent in 2015. However, to achieve this, Sawaco needs10.3 trillion VND to upgrade the water supply network.

Phu said that the water loss reduction project funded by the WorldBank helped the city’s central area to cut losses by around 100,000cubic meters per day.

Ho Chi Minh City will besupplied daily with 300,000 cubic meters from Thu Duc water plant nextyear and another 300,000 cubic meters from Tan Hiep water plant in 2015.

According to Ho Chi Minh City chairman Le HoangQuan, the city’s water supply system is quite old and needs to beupgraded. The city also plans to reduce the loss rate to 9-10 percent in2020.

Sawaco will develop a clean water supply network in all rural areas in 2025.

Among 18.72 trillion VND needed in the 2013-2015 period, Sawaco can afford around 3.3 trillion VND.

The current rate of households supplied with clean water in the city’scentral districts is 89 percent while in outlying districts it is only56.1 percent. The rates are quite low in Hoc Mon (6percent), District 12(34 percent) and Binh Chanh (76.5 percent).

Sawaco’s water supply will be increased from the current level of 1.65million to 2.4 million cubic meters per day in 2015 to increase the rateof supplying clean water to 92 percent.-VNA