Contact Person:
Alejandra Viveros (202) 473-4306
Aviveros@worldbank.org
Lee Morrison (202)-458-8741
Lmorrison1@worldbank.org
October 19, 2000—The World Bank yesterday approved a $32 million loan to help Ecuador increase and improve the coverage of basic water and sanitation services in rural areas and small towns, where most of the population currently lives under the poverty line.
“The project has been designed against the backdrop of Ecuador’s socio-economic crisis to benefit about 350,000 people, particularly those in rural areas and small towns where two thirds of the country’s poor reside,” said Isabel Guerrero, the World Bank’s Director for Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru.
The Rural and Small Towns Water Supply and Sanitation Project will provide for investments in infrastructure that respond to community demand and will, therefore, generate temporary and permanent employment opportunities for those who most need them.
The loan will also support the government of Ecuador in the implementation of an overall sector reform aimed at strengthening central government institutions, municipal governments, community groups, service providers and the private sector in order to improve the coverage and effective use of the water supply and sanitation system both in rural and urban areas.
“This loan will support decentralization in a very real way, by empowering small municipalities and their communities to design and implement their own projects, such as the construction of sanitary facilities,” said Oscar Alvarado, the World Bank’s task manager for the project.
Useful links: Click here for more information on the World Bank’s work in the Latin American and Caribbean Region.
