The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors approved US$119 million in additional financing for an ongoing project to respond to key urban development challenges focusing on assuring water supply and wastewater needs of selected urban areas in Vietnam.

    The additional financing for the Vietnam Urban Water Supply and Wastewater Project will mostly be used for a wastewater and drainage subproject for Binh Duong province, according to the world bank press release.

    It will also cover cost overruns due to the appreciation of the U.S. dollar, and provide technical support to the Ministry of Construction to prepare a new water supply investment in the Mekong Delta.

    Up to 65,872 households with 450,382 people will be connected to clean water sources as a result of the financing, and up to 312,051 urban dwellers will benefit from improved sanitation.

    The additional financing includes a credit of US$50.0 million from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank Group’s concessional financing window for low-income countries, and a loan of US$69.0 million from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the World Bank Group’s lending arm for middle-income countries.

    The original project, which was approved by the World Bank’s Board in May 2011, sponsored seven water supply and seven wastewater subprojects in 10 provinces, with an average population size of 100,000 in the urban centers.