| THE PRIME MINISTER OF GOVERNMENT ------- | SOCIALIST REPUBLIC OF VIET NAM Independence - Freedom - Happiness ---------- |
| No: 277/2006/QD-TTg | Hanoi, December 11, 2006 |
DECISION
APPROVING THE NATIONAL TARGET PROGRAM ON RURAL CLEAN WATER AND ENVIRONMENTAL SANITATION IN THE 2006-2010 PERIOD
THE PRIME MINISTER
Pursuant to the December 25, 2001 Law on Organization of the Government;
Pursuant to the Prime Minister's Decision No. 104/2000/QD-TTg of August 25, 2000, approving the national strategy on rural clean water supply and sanitation up to 2020;
At the proposal of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development,
DECIDES:
Article 1.- To approve the national target program on rural clean water and environmental sanitation in the 2006-2010 period (below referred to as the Program for short) with the following principal contents:
I. VIEWPOINTS, GUIDING PRINCIPLES AND IMPLEMENTATION SCOPE OF THE PROGRAM
1. Viewpoints
a/ To bring into play the internal strengths of the entire society for the implementation of the Program and, at the same time, based on the characteristics of each region or locality and the demands of users, to select a technological scope and service level suitable to the financial capability as well as the post-investment management, exploitation and use of facilities.
b/ To step up socialization and development of a rural clean water and environmental sanitation service market suitable to the socio-economic development situation of the country.
c/ The State shall adopt mechanisms and policies to support poor people, policy beneficiaries, ethnic minority areas, and rural areas meeting with exceptional difficulties in clean water and environmental sanitation.
2. Guiding principles
a/ To ensure the sustainable development of the Program in association with the Party's and State's comprehensive strategy on growth, hunger eradication and poverty alleviation; rural clean-water supply and environmental sanitation facilities, once repaired, upgraded or built, must ensure sustainable operation and efficiency.
b/ To prioritize the supply of water to densely populated areas; to upgrade and expand existing facilities; to seek stable water sources for areas stricken by exceptional difficulties or frequently affected by drought, polluted areas, mountainous and coastal areas and islands.
c/ The Program shall be managed and administered in accordance with law.
3. Implementation scope of the Program: rural areas nationwide, with priority given in the immediate future to deep-lying, remote, ethnic minority and coastal areas, areas frequently stricken by drought or difficulties in water sources, and areas with polluted water sources.
II. THE PROGRAM'S OBJECTIVES
To ensure that by the end of 2010, the following fundamental objectives of the Program will be achieved:
1. Water supply: 85% of the rural population will have access to hygienic daily-life water, 50% of whom will have access to clean water up to the standards promulgated together with the Health Ministry's Decision No. 09/2005/QD-BYT of March 11, 2005, with 60 liters//person/day.
2. Environmental sanitation: 70% of rural households will have hygienic latrines; 70% of farmers' households engaged in animal husbandry will have hygienic pens.
All rural kindergartens, schools, health stations, markets, communal working offices and public works will have access to sufficient clean water and hygienic latrines.
To minimize environmental pollution in trade villages, especially food and foodstuff processing villages.
III. MAJOR SOLUTIONS
To continue directing the implementation of the Prime Minister's Decision No. 104/2000/QD-TTg of August 25, 2000, approving the national strategy on rural clean water supply and environmental sanitation up to 2020; particularly in the 2006-2010 period, the following major solutions should be taken:
1. To step up socialization and development of a rural clean water and environmental sanitation market.
a/ To promulgate mechanisms and policies to facilitate and encourage all economic and social sectors to invest in the development of rural clean water and environmental sanitation;
b/ To mobilize community participation, ensuring publicity, democracy and transparency in the course of implementation of projects;
c/ To enhance the legality and strictness of sanctions against violations in the domain of rural clean water supply and environmental sanitation.
2. To step up information-education-communication and community involvement activities.
Management agencies, socio-economic organizations and mass media agencies shall supply the communities with full, accurate, prompt and regular information on health and environmental sanitation, relevant policies, financial support systems, good models, science and technology, and modes of managing and operating rural water supply and environmental sanitation facilities.
The State encourages international organizations, non-governmental organizations and social and economic sectors to participate in conducting information, education and communication on rural clean water and environmental sanitation.
3. To formulate and implement plannings and plans
To regularly review, supplement and update in time general and detailed plannings on rural clean-water supply and environmental sanitation for use as a basis for the elaboration of five-year and annual development plans. The Program's plans must be based on people's demands and synthesized from grassroots, communal, district, provincial and central plans to ensure feasibility.
To enhance decentralization and, at the same time, apply supervision and monitoring mechanisms to ensure the effective implementation of the Program.
4. Scientific and technological solutions
To diversify water supply technologies appropriate to natural, economic and social conditions of each locality, ensuring sustainable development; to rationally exploit and use water sources with appropriate technologies; to raise the quality of facilities and water.
To select and develop different types of hygienic latrines for use in households, schools and public places suitable to use demands, practice and culture of local people. To intensify the application of biogas technologies to the treatment of waste from animal husbandry.
To study and build on an experimental basis demonstration models of treatment of waste from trade villages, especially food and foodstuff processing villages.
5. To manage construction investment, exploitation and protection of facilities
To invest for proper purposes in the construction of facilities according to approved plannings and plans; to set up appropriate organizations to manage, exploit and protect approved facilities.
Service charges must correctly and fully cover reasonable expenses to help service-providing organizations and individuals enjoy financial autonomy.
Service users shall pay for services they have actually used and at prescribed charge rates.
6. To train and develop human resources
To increase training for cadres and technicians engaged in water supply and environmental sanitation at all levels in order to improve their professional qualifications and skills, first of all managerial personnel and workers engaged in operating, repairing and maintaining clean water supply and environmental sanitation facilities. To attach importance to raising their practical skills to meet the requirements on the operation of facilities; to prioritize training for grassroots maintenance and operation workers and technicians.
7. To expand international cooperation
To step up international cooperation in order to exchange experience, share information, transfer technologies, and mobilize non-refundable aid and preferential credit.
To establish clear and flexible mechanisms for coordination between government agencies and donors in order to create a transparent, favorable and efficient environment for the implementation of the Program; to establish partnership relations between Vietnam and donors in the domain of rural clean-water supply and environmental sanitation,
8. To enhance supervision and monitoring
To establish systems for, and enhance, supervision and monitoring at central, provincial, district and communal levels.
To monitor and evaluate the results of achievement of the Program's objectives, the quantity and quality of works, and the quality of water, supervising the implementation process from survey and construction to operation management of each project. To enhance community involvement to ensure transparency, publicity and democracy in the course of implementation.
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