LatAm Water & Waste Weekly Wrap

Financing took center stage following a number of international loan agreements and government allocation announcements, which aim to bolster the region's waterworks infrastructure. The Andean Development Corporation (CAF) signed a US$62mn loan agreement with Venezuela to finance continuing works for the Yacambu-Quibor dam and reservoir project in Lara state, which is scheduled for completion in 2006, when it will benefit close to one million residents in the city of Barquisimeto alone. The loan brings CAF financing to date for the project to US$125mn. The CAF was also busy in Ecuador, where it signed a US$13mn loan with port city Guayaquil that will help finance the first phase of the Salado wetlands recovery program, which will require in total some US$60mn. Work on Phase I is expected to start 1Q02, beginning with the construction of a sewerage network on the banks of the Salado. Phase I covers 85% of the total project, and is expected to recover 80-85% of the Salado wetlands by 2005. Also in Ecuador, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved a US$40mn loan to help finance small-scale infrastructure projects, including potable water and sewerage works. The IDB also expressed its interest in financing the second phase (Modulo II) of the US$495mn environmental management program Pro-Guaiba in Brazil's Rio Grande do Sul state. An IDB mission will visit state capital Porto Alegre in March or April 2002 to review Modulo II plans, which the IDB would finance 60%. Also in Brazil, state infrastructure oriented bank Caixa Economico Federal (CEF) announced it would provide up to US$618mn in financing for waterworks projects in Brazil in 2002, up from US$280mn in 2001; Mato Grosso do Sul state waterworks company Sanesul announced it is looking for financing to carry out three major projects in the state; and the federal government national social development plan Projeto Alvorada announced it would allocate some US$14.9mn to carry out water supply and sewerage works in Paraiba state. In Colombia, the government allocated some US$8.16mn to carry out infrastructure works - including water supply and sewerage projects - for Bolivar state municipalities Simiti, Santa Rosa del Sur, Cantagallo and San Pablo, considered priority targets under the country's socioeconomic development strategy Plan Colombia. Meanwhile the Dutch government announced it was donating some US$14.3mn to Colombia's Environment Ministry that will help development environmental management programs. Neighboring Panama also took a step closer to approving a US$50mn bond issue to help state waterworks company IDAAN carry out US$145mn modernization works, when the national legislative assembly's budget committee approved the issue. And finally up north in Mexico, Nuevo Leon state's water and drainage directorate Direccion de Agua y Drenaje announced it would invest some US$259mn on rain catchment works, which should solve 50% of state capital Monterrey's flooding problems. COMING UP Dec. 3: Deadline for delivering offers to Uruguay's capital Montevideo for an international competition to supply a mechanized residential waste collection system. Dec. 5: Chile's Region I water utility Essat will open bids for 30 year non-consumptive rights to water in the Carmelo-Iquique system for power generation. Dec. 5: Water utility Aguas Andinas, which serves Chile's capital city Santiago, will receive offers for power supplies for its La Farfana treatment plant. It wants 15MW capacity and 72GWh annual consumption.