The Vietnam Bank for Social Policies (VBSP) has helped build more than 8.7 million clean water and sanitation facilities for family use in the past 12 years under its credit programme designed for the purpose.

The bank said as of the end of October this year, total loans under the programme came to VND 40.5 trillion (USD 1.8 billion) with more than five million customers.

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The bank has collected VND 16.9 trillion (USD 760 million) in debt payment, while overdue debts stood at VND 37 billion, or 0.16 percent.

The credit program was first piloted in 10 provinces – Son La, Hai Duong, Nam Dinh, Ninh Binh, Nghe An, Khanh Hoa, Binh Thuan, Dak Lak, Tien Giang, Kien Giang from 2004 to 2005.

It was then expanded to all provinces and cities.

Under the program, rural households can borrow a maximum VND six million (USD 270) to upgrade or build clean water and sanitation facilities. The current interest rate for such loans is 0.75 percent per month.

The national strategy on clean water and environmental sanitation in rural areas approved on August 25, 2000 set the target that all rural residents will have at least 60 liters of clean water meeting national standards per day and access to sanitary toilets by 2020.

Source: VNA