The plant, located in Trung Mau and Phu Dong communes of the suburban district of Gia Lam, is invested with almost VND5 trillion ($214.1 million ) in the first phase by the Duong River Surface Water JSC.

In this phase, it will provide about 150,000 cub.m. of water per day for about 3 million people in northeastern and southern areas of Hanoi, industrial parks along Road 179, and some adjacent areas in Bac Ninh and Hung Yen provinces.

The plant is hoped to help the capital city gradually replace polluted underground water with surface water to serve local demand.

Addressing the inauguration ceremony, Chairman of the municipal People’s Committee Nguyen Duc Chung applauded the investor’s efforts to put the plant into use ahead of schedule, adding that it will help improve the living standards and health of local residents.

He asked the company to continue harnessing resources to raise the factory’s daily capacity to 300,000 cub.m. of water in the second phase, and prepare to increase the output to 600,000 cub.m. by 2020 and 900,000 cub.m. by 2022.

He also requested relevant agencies, especially the municipal Department of Construction, to instruct districts, businesses and residents to use water from this factory so as to gradually reduce the use of groundwater.

Also at the ceremony, work on the second phase of the plant began.