Contacts: In Washington: Alejandra Viveros (202) 473-4306 Aviveros@worldbank.org In Quito: Paola Vallejo (593-2) 943-600 Pvallejo@worldbank.org WASHINGTON, July 25, 2006 - The World Bank’s Board of Directors today approved three loans for a total of US$111 million for Ecuador to increase the coverage and use of water and sanitation services, achieve universal coverage in basic education, and strengthen the country’s capacity to manage the rural road networks. “These loans will support Ecuador’s concerted efforts to reduce poverty through coordinated advances on the economic and social fronts,” said Marcelo Giugale, World Bank Director for Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. “Better education, more access to water and sanitation services, and a more efficient rural roads network, will help improve people’s lives and the development prospects of the country.” Second Rural and Small Towns Water Supply and Sanitation Project The US$48 million Second Rural and Small Towns Water Supply and Sanitation Project (PRAGUAS II) seeks to increase the coverage and effective use of sustainable water and sanitation services in Ecuador, with a focus on the poorer populations in rural communities and small towns. This loan will partially finance the second phase of a three-stage adaptable program loan that will provide US$130 million in total lending under a US$210 million national program for the water and sanitation sector in rural and small towns. The project aims to: (i) provide sustainable access to water supply and sanitation services for approximately 285,000 new rural beneficiaries and promote their effective use; (ii) provide improved and sustainable water supply and sanitation services to approximately 205,000 beneficiaries in cantonal capitals; (iii) promote sustainable solid waste services in cantonal capitals; and (iv) improve overall sector performance by the national government by promoting performance-based investment financing for the urban water supply and sanitation sector. Specifically, the project will support the following activities: - Strengthen the capacity of the Sub-Secretariat of Water, Sanitation and Solid Waste as well as other key water supply and sanitation sector actors (municipalities, water supply and sanitation operators, water users associations, etc.).
- Design and build rural water supply and sanitation systems, train communities, organize water user boards into regional organizations and finance a nationwide hand-washing campaign.
- Provide technical assistance and investment finance to increase service quality, efficiency and cost recovery for water supply, sanitation and solid waste services provided in municipal capitals.
- Design and implement a communications program to help build a constituency for reform in the sector.
Over the past five years, the first phase of the Rural and Small Towns Water Supply and Sanitation Project (PRAGUAS I) has become the government’s primary vehicle for addressing the sector challenges outlined above. In terms of coverage, the project has provided new water supply systems for 252,000 people and on-site sanitation for 127,000 people, approximately 5% and 3% of Ecuador’s total rural population of 4.7 million. The new US$48 million fixed-spread LIBOR-based loan is repayable in 13.5 years and includes an 8.5-year grace period. Support for the Strategy of Inclusion and Quality Education Project The second loan approved today by the Board of Directors for US$43 million for the Support for the Strategy of Inclusion and Quality Education Project will support the country’s education strategy to achieve universal coverage in basic education. This project is designed to strengthen the human resources management process, increase the number and improved distribution of teachers, expand coverage in primarily rural isolated, indigenous areas, and strengthen the managerial role of the Ministry of Education and Culture in the delivery of early childhood education programs. In particular, the project aims to attain the following results: - Hire and deploy at least 5,000 teachers.
- Open or reopen at least 1,000 schools with the corresponding teachers to serve disadvantaged urban or rural areas including intercultural bilingual schools.
- Benefit at least 130,000 children (of which at least 52,500 new to the system).
- Inform at least 80 percent of public Early Childhood Education centers and their educators about the objectives and uses of the national curricular parameters and standards.
The US$43 million fixed-spread loan is repayable in 11 years. Rural Roads Project The third loan approved today for US$20 million will support the Rural Roads Project, which seeks to strengthen the capacity of participating provinces to manage the rural road networks, and to provide improved access to markets and social services for residents of poor rural areas. More specifically, the project will improve access and connectivity to the main economic centers for the agriculture dependent and other populations of the mainly rural cantons of the project provinces by: - Improving the systems and procedures for road maintenance and ensuring that the maintainable network in all project assisted provinces is maintained satisfactorily. This component will finance the road rehabilitation of 600 km by introducing more durable road surfaces, removing landslide, and building drainage and control structures.
- Rehabilitating and improving selected rural roads, spot upgrading and routine maintenance. The project will finance 800 km of periodic maintenance and put in place arrangements for the continuous maintenance of about 1,945 km of roads in rural areas.
- Strengthening institutional arrangements and improving the procedures for planning, programming and budgeting. This component will increase the administrative capacity of participating provinces as well as national government entities involved in the administration of rural roads. In addition, it will support the formation and training of micro enterprises to undertake routine road maintenance, promote increased road safety, and incorporate a participatory approach to social and environmental issues in the planning and implementation of road works.
The US$20 million fixed-spread loan is repayable in 10 years and includes a 9.5-year grace period. -###- For more information on these projects, please visit: Second Rural and Small Towns Water Supply and Sanitation Project http://web.worldbank.org/external/projects/main?pagePK=64283627&piPK=73230&theSitePK=40941&menuPK=228424&Projectid=P095555 Support for the Strategy of Inclusion and Quality Education Project http://web.worldbank.org/external/projects/main?pagePK=64283627&piPK=73230&theSitePK=40941&menuPK=228424&Projectid=P087831 Rural Roads Project http://web.worldbank.org/external/projects/main?pagePK=64283627&piPK=73230&theSitePK=40941&menuPK=228424&Projectid=P007077 For more information on the World Bank’s work in Ecuador, please visit: http://www.worldbank.org/ec |
RSS