The World Bank approved USD125 million for Belgrano Plan
The loan is aimed at the extension of water and sanitation works that will benefit more than 450,000 people.
March 25, 2017
The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), original institution of the World Bank to help developing countries, approved this Friday the license for a USD125-million loan aimed at the “Development of Drinking Water and Sanitation Services Belgrano Plan”. It is the extension of infrastructure works for the provision and sanitation of water contemplated in Belgrano Plan which is being developed in the North of the country.
The Minister of Finance, Luis Caputo, as Argentine Governor before the World Bank, said this guarantee “is an important tool for the development of infrastructure in Argentina. We need better routes, communications, and housing conditions to be competitive, to create jobs and to grow”. Mr. Minster added that “from the Ministry of Finance we constantly work to guarantee the best financial conditions to finance the growth Argentina needs”.
The 32.5 year-credit has a grace period of 7 years and it will benefit 450,000 Argentinians that will have better access to sanitary and drinking water provision services.
This financing completes the “Second Project of Water Infrastructure of Norte Grande” that began in 2011 with the objective of increasing sustainable access to sanitation services and water provision in the North of the country.
The Director of the World Bank for Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay, Jesko Hentschel said that: “access to drinking water for the Northern population of Argentina is crucial to reduce poverty and set the basis for a sustainable growth in some of the most vulnerable regions of the country”.
The National Government will complete the investment with a contribution of 25 million dollars. This way, the project will allow extending the works being done within the context of Belgrano Plan in the Provinces of Chaco, Formosa, Tucumán, Catamarca, Salta, Jujuy, Santiago del Estero, Corrientes, Misiones and La Rioja.
Works include the construction, rehabilitation and extension of drinking water distribution networks and sanitation of waste-water systems. These works will also reach remote urban settlements of the above-mentioned Provinces.
Therefore, the Belgrano Plan seeks to reduce the inequality among different regions of the country regarding infrastructure, in order to eliminate extreme poverty and allow the access to basic services for the most vulnerable population of the North of the country.