Around 20,000 poor residents in Ho Chi Minh City will be able to access clean water next year under a 249,000-euro (US$366,000) project funded by Dutch organization Water for Life Fund (WFL).

Sawaco will construct pipes and facilities for distributing tap water in the two districts where people have been grappling with water shortage for many years.

Construction is expected to be completed by the end of March 2010, Saigon Times Daily reported.

Reported by Mai Vong