CABEI-financed project to provide water to more than 700,000 Costa Ricans in the North Pacific region begins work

San José, July 27th, 2023 - The Water Supply System for the Middle Basin of the Tempisque River and Coastal Communities (PAACUME), known as "Water for the Bajura", which will guarantee water resources for human consumption and irrigation to more than 700,000 inhabitants of the province of Guanacaste, Costa Rica, began work on Thursday.

The project, which is being financed by the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) for US$425 million, includes the construction of an 850-acre reservoir on the Piedras River with a capacity of 80 million cubic meters, as well as piping and distribution networks, a water treatment plant, storage tanks, and a protected pipeline for transporting the liquid to reduce the risk of contamination, among other works.

The start order was given by the President of the Republic, Rodrigo Chaves, in a symbolic act in which the CABEI country chief officer in Costa Rica, Álvaro Alfaro, participated and indicated: “we are pleased to be personally contemplating the start of a megaproject awaited for many years by the people of Guanacaste, years in which CABEI has been present to see it come true with the aim that the habitants of this area affected by droughts will have an uninterrupted access to water service”.

The project is framed within CABEI's strategic axes of Human Development and Competitiveness, through which the multilateral contributes to the generation of minimum welfare conditions in the areas of health, education and other essential services.