Hundreds of thousands of people livingin central Vietnam will receive clean water and sanitation facilitiesprovided by a project that received a loan of 45 million USD from theAsian Development Bank on Feb. 2.

The loan agreement for the Central Region Rural Water Supply andSanitation Sector Project was inked between the ADB Country Directorfor Vietnam Ayumi Konishi and the State Bank of Vietnam ’s GovernorNguyen Van Giau.

The loan aims to support the country's efforts in achieving thenational development targets and Millennium Development Goals forpeoples’ access to clean water supply and sanitation.

The project will provide clean water and sanitation facilities for some350,000 people in the six central coastal provinces of Thanh Hoa, NgheAn, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Nam and Binh Dinh where the povertylevels are higher than the national average.

Households in the project provinces will be provided with grants andcredit to build latrines. Poverty-ridden households will be supportedwith grants while credit will be given to households not designated aspoor through a revolving fund managed by the Vietnam Women’s Union .

To improve hygiene awareness, water and sanitation commune committeeswill form to provide information and education activities, with atleast 40 percent of the members women.

In the Feb. 2 press release, the ADB praised Vietnam for itssignificant efforts to stay on track to meet its goal of providingaccess to clean water for 85 percent of the total population by 2010.The bank said this goal is being achieved, but in regards to improvedsanitation, the progress is slower and will unlikely meet its 2010target of 70 percent.

The ADB’s loan, from its concessional Asian Development Fund, covers 90percent of the project cost of 50 million USD and has a 32-year termwith a grace period of eight years./.