The project, launched in Kim Son commune in Dong Thap province, comprises the Dong Tam water plant’s raw water pumping station system and a 115-kilometer transmission pipeline.

It is Vietnam’s first large-scale inter-regional water supply model, designed to ease freshwater shortages and strengthen climate resilience across the Mekong Delta, which is one of the world’s most vulnerable regions to salinity intrusion and drought.

The project’s first phase will have a design capacity of 300,000 cubic meters per day, supplying freshwater to more than two million people and several industrial clusters in Dong Thap, Tay Ninh, and Vinh Long provinces. The system will draw non-saline water from the Tien river and Nguyen Tan Thanh canal, both protected by saltwater barriers.

Addressing the groundbreaking ceremony on Friday, Deputy Minister of Construction Nguyen Tuong Van said the project aligns with Vietnam’s national strategy for safe and sustainable water supply through 2030, with a vision to 2050. He urged DNP Water and Samsung E&A to ensure completion by the fourth quarter of 2026 and to consider expanding the model to other areas facing water scarcity.

A second phase, currently under study, could extend the pipeline to the Cai Be-My Thuan area and double the capacity to 600,000 cubic meters per day.

The initiative is part of DNP Water’s broader Mekong Delta infrastructure strategy, which foresees total investments of up to VND11 trillion ($418 million) in large-scale projects aimed at alleviating chronic freshwater shortages in the Ca Mau Peninsula.