The Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID, has launched a new website (in Spanish only) for its Cooperation Fund for Water and Sanitation, a financing instrument that supports water and sanitation initiatives in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Launched on 7 June 2011, it provides detailed information about the fund and is set to host a list of upcoming tenders carried out by Spain’s partner organisations and countries. The website also contains eligibility criteria and application instructions.
The Cooperation Fund for Water and Sanitation began operating in 2008 with a US$ 1.5 billion budget. The launch of the website is line with the Spanish government’s commitment to make the fund’s operation more transparent, AECID explains in a news release.
In the presence of President José Mujica, Spanish ambassador Aurora Díaz-Rato and singer Jorge Drexler, a US$ 6.85 million grant agreement was signed for a four-year program that will improve water and sanitation at 355 rural schools, improving access to water for 24,000 people.
Left to right: Pres. José Mujica, Carlos Colacce (OSE), Jorge Drexler
The grant for the “Small Rural Communities Water Supply Program” comes from the Spanish Cooperation Fund for Water and Sanitation in Latin America and the Caribbean. The government of Uruguay will provide an additional US$ 6.85 million for the programme administered by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and executed by the state-owned utility OSE.
The program focuses on rural schools, which play a key role in social integration and are at the centre of community initiatives. OSE has already started the program in 37 localities, each with an average of 20 houses. OSE charges a “social” tariff of 53 pesos (US$ 2.60) for up to 15 cubic metres of water.
By focusing on rural schools, the program will help maximize the benefits of installed water supply capacity and introduce education in hygiene and water conservation. It will begin by installing public standpipes and cylindrical water towers common in many rural areas. At a later stage, individual home connections will be implemented.
The program will upgrade schools’ water and sanitation infrastructure and ensure proper management of wastewater.
The grant signing ceremony was the the first official appearance of Jorge Drexler as “Water Ambassador” for Latin America and the Caribbean. The Spanish government appointed the Oscar-winning Uruyguan musician and doctor as goodwill ambassador for the Spanish Cooperation Fund for Water and Sanitation in Latin America and the Caribbean on World Water Day 2010.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Spanish government’s cooperation fund for water and sanitation in Latin America and the Caribbean (FCAS) will contribute US$52mn to a program to provide potable water and sanitation services to rural and indigenous communities in Paraguay.
Read full article on: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 23 Mar 2010
The Spanish international cooperation agency for development (AECID) is carrying out water and sanitation projects worth 91.5mn euros (US$125mn) in Haiti following the earthquake that devastated large parts of the country on January 12, 2010.
Read full article on: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 11 Feb 2010
Bolivia’s water and environment ministry (MMAyA) is seeking US$100mn in international funding for the second phase of a program to provide water and sanitation services to residents living just outside the country’s metropolitan areas. The first phase of the project is already underway, and is being financed by US$100mn in loans and donations from the Spanish international cooperation agency (AECI) and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
Read full article on: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 25 Jan 2010
A five-year US$90mn project backed by the the Spanish government’s cooperation fund for water and sanitation in Latin America and the Caribbean to improve water and sanitation for 500,000 people in Peru’s rural areas is scheduled to be approved in February 2010. The Spanish government will donate US$72mn, which will be administered by Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
Read the full article on: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 22 Dec 2009
The Spanish government’s cooperation fund for water and sanitation in Latin America and the Caribbean (FCAS) is spurring potable water and sanitation projects throughout the region worth US$842mn, the Spanish international cooperation agency for development said on its website. The fund has received over 300 requests for funding, of which 46 projects have been selected. The region’s governments are contributing US$929mn in counterpart funding.
Read the full article on: BNamericas.com [subscription site], 03 Dec 2009
Thanks to US$ 50 million in grants from Spain and US$ 50 million in loans from the Inter-American Development (IDB) Guatemala will expand safe water and sanitation services to approximately 600,000 people in 280 rural communities and 60 urban and periurban areas that today lack those services.
In addition to enhancing and expanding water and sanitation services, the program will foster organized participation by the rural communities and the municipalities in order to ensure that the systems constructed are sustainable over time. The funds will also serve to consolidate and strengthen the institutions needed for the planning, regulation and delivery of the services.
The program will lend support to a comprehensive plan drawn up by the Government of Guatemala to reduce the shortfall in coverage of these services. Current water and sanitation service coverage, nationwide, is 75 percent and 47 percent, respectively, which means that nearly 3 million Guatemalans still lack public water services and approximately 6 million lack sanitation services.
In the rural areas of Guatemala, water coverage is 60 percent, sanitation 36 percent. The worst shortfalls are found in areas with predominantly indigenous populations. According to Government estimates, only 15 percent of the water distributed in the country can be considered potable and barely 5 percent of the sewerage systems properly treat wastewater prior to disposal. To achieve United Nations Millennium Development Goals, Guatemala would have to invest an estimated $1,602 million in improving these services.
This is the fourth project financed jointly by the IDB and the Spanish Cooperation Fund for Water and Sanitation in Latin America and the Caribbean (the Spanish Fund), an entity established in 2009 at the initiative of the President of Spain, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
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Apart from the project in Guatemala, the IDB and Spain are co-financing projects in Haiti, Bolivia and Paraguay, and between now and mid-2010 they are expected to finance projects located in Brazil, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Honduras, Peru and Uruguay. All in all, Spain will donate US$ 407 million to those projects, while the IDB will contribute US$ 213 million in grants and loans, in addition to defraying the bulk of the their preparation and implementation costs. Some 4 million people living in low-income urban and rural communities are expected to benefit directly from these projects.
Initially, the program will be executed by the National Peace Fund (FONAPAZ) with the support of the Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance. Nineteen months into the Program, responsibility for executing it will pass to the Municipal Development Institute (INFOM/UNEPAR).
Of the loans granted to the program by the IDB, US$ 40 million will be for a 30-year term, with a 5.5 year grace period, at a variable interest rate based on Libor, while the remaining US$ 10 million will be for a 40-year term with a grace period of 40 years, and an interest rate of 0.25 percent. The IDB could eventually consider financing a second phase of the program with an additional US$ 100 million loan.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Government of Spain will provide a total of $139 million in grants and loans to Haiti and Bolivia. These are the first projects jointly funded by the US$ 620 million IDB and Spanish Cooperation Fund for Water and Sanitation in Latin America and the Caribbean (the Spanish Fund), an initiative announced in 2008 by Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
Bolivia
In Bolivia, the Spanish Fund will contribute US$ 80 million in grants and the IDB another US$ 20 million in ordinary and concessional loans to extend water and sanitation services to some 500,000 people in periurban areas of El Alto, La Paz, Cochabamba, Santa Cruz, and Tarija who are currently without service.
The Bolivian Government estimates that investments of around US$ 700 million are needed in urban areas to achieve the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. Meeting these goals will require increasing access to water supply and sanitation for 1.4 million and 1.7 million inhabitants, respectively.
The US$ 100 million from the Spanish Fund and the IDB will be used for four principal activities: construction of new infrastructure in unserved areas; completion of water and sanitation master plans for La Paz, El Alto, Santa Cruz, Cochabamba and Tarija; institutional strengthening for relevant service operators and government authorities; and establishment of a full-time program coordination unit to audit, evaluate and monitor project execution.
Haiti
In Haiti, the Spanish Fund will contribute US$ 20 million and the IDB another US$ 19 million, both in grants, to help expand and improve water and sanitation services for around 150,000 people Saint-Marc, Port-De Paix, Les Cayes, Jacmel, Ouanaminthe and Cap-Haitien.
Haiti has no sewer networks and, according to the 2003 census, only 8.5 percent of its households are connected to a drinking water distribution system.
To tackle this situation, $14.2 million will help expand the drinking water coverage and US $17 million will be used to help finance individual and collective sanitary systems installation, develop waste collection, transportation and disposal systems, facilitate maintenance of storm drainage systems, and support public hygiene programs. The funds will also finance the institutional and technical strengthening of the National Directorate of Potable Water and Sanitation (DINEPA), as well as a campaign to eradicate parasitic worms associated with poor water and sanitation services, with particular emphasis on treatment of children between the ages of 1 and 12 years.
In addition to Haiti and Bolivia, the IDB and Spain are expected to jointly finance projects in Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Paraguay, Peru, the Dominican Republic and Uruguay between now and mid-2010. In all, Spain will contribute US$ 407 million in grants to these projects, while the IDB will contribute US$ 213 million in grants and loans, while also assuming the bulk of the project preparation and execution costs. Governments in the region will contribute an additional US$ 77 million in counterpart funds. Around 4 million people in low-income urban and rural communities are expected to benefit directly from these projects.
IDB video on the Spanish Water and Sanitation Cooperation Fund
The Spanish government has approved a US$80mn donation to Bolivia’s environment and water ministry for potable water and sewerage projects [and the construction of water intake systems], Bolivian government news agency ABI reported. [The package is part of a water and sanitation development plan that requires US$500mn].
[An earlier report] in local paper El Informador reported that Bolivian authorities [sought] financial support in Spain to cover the cost of a series of water projects [worth] US$ 150mn. Germany, Canada and Sweden [had] already offered their support to carry them out. [Spain has denied an announcement made by President Evo Morales of Bolivia, that it would give some 700mn euros out of of the 1.5bn-euro Spanish water fund to support projects in the country].
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A WASH News blog maintained by IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre.
