Hanoi is calling for increased business involvement in the city’s ruralclean water supply and environmental sanitation projects as part ofefforts to help rural residents living access clean water.

Speakingat a conference on March 26, Vice Chairman of the municipal People’sCommittee Tran Xuan Viet asked relevant departments and sectors toimprove policies to facilitate business investment in clean-waterprojects in the city.

Viet said the municipalDepartment of Agriculture and Rural Development needs to examine andevaluate the current capacity and operation of water supply stations andplants as well as the efficiency of communication initiatives that aimto raise public awareness of the necessity of using clean water.

Hestressed that shortcomings in the implementation of clean waterprojects should be addressed, thus designing appropriate plans forimproving the efficiency of water-supply work in rural areas.

Accordingto reports from the Hanoi rural water and environmental sanitationcentre, as many as 99.21 percent of the rural population have access tohygienic water, 33.78 percent of which use clean water meeting Ministryof Health standards, as of 2014.

There were 106 water-supplystations in 16 rural districts in 2014, with only 78 operating currentlysupplying water to 286,000 people.

Hanoi has targetedcomprehensive rural population access to hygienic water by 2015, 60percent of which will use clean water that meets Ministry of Healthstandards.

To that end, the city has focused itsresources on building inter-communal clean water supply systems,communal and district level clean water supply stations and expandingthe urban clean water supply network.-VNA