Den Interamerikanske Udviklingsbank, IDB, har bevilget et lån på 600 millioner us dollar til Mexico. Pengene investeres i landkommuner.
WASHINGTON, 11 January 2011: Mexico will invest 600 million dollar to improve water, sanitation and hygiene in rural communities and public schools with IDB help
Two IDB loans will help bring potable water to 630.000 people, upgrade sanitary infrastructure in 20.000 school properties, and reduce water-borne illnesses among 1,3 million students
Mexico will embark on an ambitious effort to improve water and sanitation infrastructure in rural communities and public schools with help from two loans approved by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
The first loan, for 350 million dollars, will finance the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene in Basic Education Program, an initiative that will combine improvements in the physical infrastructure of 20.000 school properties with a comprehensive program of hygiene education and infrastructure maintenance.
The second loan, for 250 million dollars, will finance the Program for the Sustainability of Water Supply and Sanitation Services in Rural Communities III (PROSSAPyS III, for its initials in Spanish). This program will expand piped water service to at least 630.000 people and access to a sanitation system to 450.000 people living in rural communities with less than 10.000 inhabitants.
An estimated 5,5 million rural inhabitants in Mexico lack access to safe drinking water, and 9,8 million have no sewerage connection. This is the third IDB loan in support of Mexico´s goal to close this coverage gap.
The first Water and Sanitation for Rural Communities program was approved by the IDB in 1998 for 291 million dollars, and PROSSAPyS II was approved in 2005 for150 million. Together, these programs benefitted some 6.000 communities (3,2 million people) with water supply projects and 2.200 communities (1,6 million people) with sanitation projects.
Under PROSSAPyS III, Mexico will incorporate lessons learned in the first two stages of the program including the need to strengthen fiduciary, financial and procurement capacities of executing agencies at the state and municipal levels. The new program will also create mechanisms to ensure that local communities have the technical, administrative and commercial support needed to operate and maintain water and sanitation infrastructure in the long term.
With the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene in Basic Education Program, Mexico will undertake a comprehensive effort to improve water and sanitation infrastructure in around 20.000 properties housing 22.000 schools and serving approximately 1,3 million students that have infrastructure problems and/or lack access to water.
The program will seek to strengthen the culture of health and to sustainably improve access to safe water, sanitation, and hygiene at eligible schools, in order to reduce the incidence of water-borne diseases that can negatively affect school attendance and student achievement. It will give priority to schools in municipalities with high epidemiological risk indicators and high enrollment levels.
In addition to installing or upgrading water and sanitation infrastructure in eligible schools, the program will expand hygiene education and strengthen the participation of the school community in the management and preventive maintenance of water and sanitation facilities.
By 2014, program activities are expected to result in a 30 percent reduction in the prevalence of diarrheal diseases in participating schools, and illness-related absenteeism is expected to drop from 17,9 percent to 12 percent.
The total cost of the PROSAPyS III program is 500 million dollars, of which Mexico will provide half in local counterpart funds. The IDB loan for 250 million is for a 25 year term, with a 4 year grace period and an interest rate based on LIBOR (The London Interbank Offered Rate is a daily reference rate based on the interest rates at which banks borrow unsecured funds from other bank).
The IDB loan for 350 million will finance the totality of the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene in Basic Education Program. That loan has the same terms as the one above.
