Attracting investment for rural clean water

Investment in rural clean water plays a critically important role, as it is both an essential daily need and a foundation for productive development, public health protection, and improving the quality of life for rural communities. Accordingly, investment in rural clean water infrastructure, ensuring that people have access to sustainable drinking water, has been one of Dong Nai Province’s key priorities in recent years.

Clean-water treatment system at Gia Tan Water Supply Joint Stock Company in Dau Giay Commune. Photo: Binh Nguyen

This objective is even more urgent today, as groundwater sources continue to decline and become polluted, while the impacts of climate change grow increasingly evident. For the 2026–2030 period, the province continues to identify rural clean water supply, especially in remote communes and border areas, as a top priority for resource allocation.

Priority for investment

During the 2021–2025 period, Dong Nai Province invested in constructing 26 rural clean-water supply projects, 15 of which have been completed and put into operation, while 11 are in the preparatory phase. The total length of water pipelines connected and extended from centralized water supply facilities reached 1,048 kilometers. Total investment capital for these water supply projects exceeded 2.3 trillion VND.

The former Binh Phuoc Province did not invest in rural clean-water infrastructure using state budget funds; instead, urban water supply enterprises expanded pipeline networks into several rural communes adjacent to urban areas. During the 2021–2025 period, these water supply enterprises invested in approximately 320 kilometers of pipelines, providing water to more than 5,800 households.

As a result, the former Dong Nai Province had 91 centralized rural water supply facilities, including 52 that were operational and 39 that were no longer functioning. The former Binh Phuoc Province had 48 such facilities, with 32 in operation and 16 out of service. Many centralized water supply systems operated inefficiently because they had been built many years earlier, and numerous components had deteriorated or become severely damaged.

Vo Van Dinh, Deputy Director of the Department of Agriculture and Environment, stated that as of December 2025, 100% of rural households in Dong Nai Province had access to hygienic water. Among these, 79% used clean water that met national standards, 43% obtained water from centralized supply systems, and 36% relied on household-level supply facilities or filtration devices.

During the 2026–2030 period, Dong Nai Province will continue pursuing ambitious targets for rural clean water. By 2030, the province aims for 85% of rural households to use clean water meeting national standards, with 68% supplied by centralized systems and 17% through household-level systems or water filtration devices.

Attracting investment through policy support

To achieve these goals, Dong Nai will need to mobilize substantial investment resources for rural clean-water infrastructure between 2026 and 2030. The province will continue implementing projects carried over from 2025, while localities will invest in 10 new water supply facilities, providing clean water to approximately 137,200 residents with a total investment of more than 680.7 billion VND. Additionally, the province plans to upgrade, repair, and expand water pipeline networks at a cost exceeding 2.5 trillion VND.

This target remains a challenging problem for localities, as state budget allocations for irrigation and rural clean-water facilities fall far short of actual demand. Integrating other funding sources also faces many obstacles due to differences in mechanisms. At the same time, attracting enterprises to invest in rural clean-water projects, especially in remote and border communes, remains challenging due to high capital requirements. Additionally, rural populations are dispersed, water prices are low, and profit margins are limited, which discourages investment.

According to businesses involved in rural clean-water projects, the investment process still faces numerous hurdles. Enterprises are calling for more transparent mechanisms, stronger policy support, and more practical assistance from provincial departments and local authorities to help streamline and expedite administrative procedures.

Ha Anh Tong, Deputy Director of Binh Phuoc Water Supply and Sewerage Joint Stock Company (BPWACO), stated that enterprises are facing difficulties due to the administrative merger, as water supply zones now overlap in certain areas. When applying for construction permits, local authorities remain uncertain about how to delineate water service boundaries. In addition, complicated and prolonged paperwork continues to pose challenges during project implementation.

Dang Dinh Thuan, Director of Dong Nai Irrigation One-Member Limited Company, noted that many rural residents continue using water from drilled or dug wells. In areas without such sources, households typically rely on stored water during the dry season and rainwater in the rainy season. He emphasized that the province needs policies to support rural clean-water investment in remote, mountainous, and border communes. For long-term sustainability, he recommended investing in large-scale facilities utilizing surface water from reservoirs. Additionally, he called for policies on public land allocation and credit incentives to encourage private investment.

Several investors in rural water projects proposed increasing the allocation of domestic-use water from irrigation reservoirs. Many reservoirs were initially used for agricultural irrigation, but as cropping patterns shift and irrigated areas decline, enterprises suggest allowing more water to be redirected for household consumption.

Nguyen Thi Hoang, Provincial Party Committee member and Vice Chairwoman of the Dong Nai People’s Committee, assigned the Department of Agriculture and Environment to coordinate with the Department of Construction in developing the province’s 2026–2030 rural clean-water investment plan, based on feedback from communes and wards to ensure alignment with actual needs. Localities must review and classify investment areas, including: where projects already exist, new investment should not be attracted to avoid overlap; where no projects are in place, investment should be encouraged; and in sparsely populated areas, household filtration systems should be installed.

By Binh Nguyen – Translated by Quynh Nhu, Minho