On 21 December last, residents in three semi-rural villages close to Luang Prabang organised a ceremony to mark the launch of the water supply service in their village. The project for the extension of the water network operated by the Nampapa State company was conducted by GRET and funded by Sedif and the provincial government of Luang Prabang. 400 families, i.e. 2,000 residents, will be able to subscribe to the service and benefit from continuous access to quality water. The Nampapa company succeeded in finishing this project despite sometimes difficult conditions due to successive lockdowns triggered by the health crisis.
In the coming weeks, the construction of another water network is to begin in the small rural town of Thapho, in another district of the province. The Lao government aims to achieve a 90% rate of access to water supply for the population by 2030. The task is made difficult by the technical, financial and social challenges that must be met to reach this ambitious objective. Setting up a water service in this context can only be done with significant investment by the Government, because of the limited financial capacities of rural communities that consume less water than urban communities. The Nampapa company adapted its practices to operate the water services in these rural zones.
LGRET’s teams in Laos are continuing to support the Nampapa company to strengthen its capacities for the development and operation of water services in rural areas, particularly in terms of social marketing technical standards to promote the water service and connections to it by rural families.
