The Government requested the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCIE) a loan for $425 million to finance the project that will improve water supply in three cantons of Guanacaste.
The request was made by the Minister of Finance, Rocío Aguilar, in a note directed on June 11th before the director of the BCIE for Costa Rica, Ottón Solís.
Due to the relevance of this project for the Guanacaste region and for the country, I ask you to evaluate the possibility of granting a loan for the amount of US $ 425,000,000.00 to implement this project, which will be assumed by the Government of Costa Rica as a borrower,”
indicates the note.
The project is called “System of Water Supply for the Tempisque River Basin and Coastal Communities (Paacuame)” and it will be executed by the National Service of Groundwater, Irrigation and Drainage (Senara). Its objective is to increase the availability of water on the right bank of the Tempisque River, through the construction of infrastructure works, as adaptation measures to climate change for a better use of the resource.
The initiative seeks to benefit 500 thousand people from the cantons of Santa Cruz, Nicoya, and Carrillo in a potential area of 18,800 hectares. It includes infrastructure that consists of 300 kilometers of new canals in the three cantons, the construction of the reservoir on the Piedras River with a water mirror of 850 hectares, and works on the dam to generate hydroelectric power.
The plan requires the approval of the so-called law for the modification of the boundaries of the Lomas de Barbudal biological reserve for the development of the water supply project for the Tempisque River basin and coastal communities. The Legislative Plenary approved this week to process the initiative through a fast track, a motion presented by Rodolfo Peña, from the Christian Social Unity Party (PUSC).