Hanoi to Build $164M Water Plant in Q1 2016: Official

Authorities in Vietnam’s capital city of Hanoi have said that it gets ready to kick off construction of a water supply plant at a cost of VND3.7 trillion ($164.4 million) to ease the water shortage that is troubling local residents, an official said. Designed to have capacity 300,000 cubic meters (cu.m)/day, the plant, which will use water from Red river, is expected to complete in the fourth quarter 2020, Le Van Duc, director of Hanoi’s Department of Construction, said at a press conference on Oct 27. Currently, Hanoi’s water supply capacity is 900,000 cu.m/day, which includes 600.000 cu.m from underground water and the remaining from the Da river originating from China and flowing to northern Vietnam. Earlier this month, Vietnam Construction and Import-Export Joint Stock Corporation (Vinaconex) kicked off construction of a water supply project costing VND5 trillion ($222 million) to ease the shortage that affects hundreds of thousands of urban dwellers. Both Da river and Red river originate from China. (Hanoi Moi – New Hanoi Oct 28 p4, An Ninh Thu Do – Capital Security Oct 28 p2, Tuoi Tre – Youth Oct 27)