Nhan Dan – After being kept unchanged since mid-July, 2009, prices for clean household water will increase beginning July 11 under the Ministry of Finance’s Circular No. 88/2012/TT-BTC.
Accordingly, retail prices of clean domestic water in special cities and city level 1 will rise by VND500 to VND3,500 (US$0.17) per m3 at the lowest, and the maximum price will surge from the current VND12,000 to VND18,000 ($0.86) per m3.
Water costs in level 2, 3, 4 and 5 cities will rise to VND3,000-15,000 (US$0.15-0.72) per m3 from the current level of VND2,000-10,000 (US$0.1-0.48).
In rural areas, the price ranges will also increase from VND1,000-8,000 (US$0.05-0.38) to VND2,000-11,000 (US$0.1-0.53).
The new prices are inclusive of value added tax.
In late May 2012, the Hanoi Clean Water Limited Company proposed increasing the price of clean water by 35% due to the rapidly increasing prices of input materials . The company claimed that it suffered a total loss of VND32 billion (US$1.54 million) during the first four month of 2012 and was forced to cut its workers’ salaries as a result.
At the beginning of this year, prices of clean water in Ho Chi Minh City also rose to VND4,800-11,000 (US$0.23-0.53) per m3.