The Asian Development Bank (ADB) Tuesday signed an agreement to loan Vietnam US$45 million for giving people in the central region access to clean water and sanitation.

The Central Region Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Sector project will supporting poor households in six central coastal provinces build latrines and improve their awareness of hygiene through informational and educational activities.

Some 350,000 people in the provinces of Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Ha Tinh, Quang Binh, Quang Nam, and Binh Dinh are expected to benefit from the project implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

The project would help Vietnam overcome hindrances to its progress to the goal of having 85 percent of its total population access clean water by this year, ADB said.

The country is unlikely to meet its goal due to several problems, including 75 percent of the population living in rural areas where knowledge of hygiene was still limited, and water supply was unsustainable due to cost barriers, the ADB release said.

Source: Thanh Nien