CABEI and AyA in Costa Rica sign loan for US $154.6 million
The funds will be used to increase access to drinking water and sanitation services, in addition to optimizing the environmental conditions of health and hygiene.
San José, May 4, 2018.- The Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) and the Costa Rican Institute of Aqueducts and Sewers (AyA), with the presence of the Vice President of the Republic, Ana Elena Chacón, as an honorable witness, signed today a loan contract for an amount of US $154.6 million, through which 13 potable water infrastructure projects and one wastewater sanitation project will be financed.
The loan will go to the Program entitled "Supply of the Metropolitan Area of San José, Urban Aqueducts II, and Juanito Mora Sanitary Sewage, Puntarenas" which will benefit a population of more than 300,000 people from 16 cantons, plus the projection of population growth to 25 years.
"The current administration has doubled the execution of projects and this agreement will allow AyA to continue investing in the entire territory. The financing will guarantee the continuity of the investments for the benefit of the population and demonstrates the institution's confidence, its ability to execute, and its financial health," said AyA's Executive President, Yamileth Astorga.
Similarly, Alberto Cortés Ramos, CABEI Director for Costa Rica, said that this intervention is another example of the Bank's commitment to provide the population with adequate means in exercise of their human right to water and sanitation, as is addressed by CABEI's 2015-2019 Institutional Strategy, which considers the water sector as an essential element of human progress and social infrastructure.
Some specific projects that will be financed are: the II stage of improvements to the potable water infrastructure for the western zone of San José, the improvements to the Bagaces aqueduct (which will provide a permanent solution to the presene of arsenic), and the sanitary sewer in Juanito Mora at Puntarenas. In addition, there are improvements made on the Buenos Aires aqueduct, the second stage of the Aqueduct of Cóbano, and the expansion of the Los Chiles aqueduct, among others.
The 16 benefited cantons are: Alajuela, Esparza, Los Chiles, San Mateo, San Ramón-Palmares and Turrubares (Alajuela), El Guarco (Cartago), Bagaces (Guanacaste), Buenos Aires, Golfito and Puntarenas (Puntarenas), and Escazú-Santa Ana-Mora and Pérez Zeledón (San José).
