Aguas de Cachoeiro

active

In July 1998, Citagua signed a 30 year contract rehabilitate, expand and operate the water and sewerage system of Cachoeiro do Itapemirim, state of Espirito Santo. In July 1998, a specific purpose enterprise, Aguas de Cachoeiro SA (Citagua) signed the concession contract. Citagua started the operations in December 1998. Cachoeiro do Itapemirim has a population of 153,000. Aguas de Cachoeiro SA (Citagua) was a special purpose vehicle originally controlled by three companies comprising the consortium who offered the wining bid: Grupo Aguia Branca, Cepemar and Hidropart. As of December 2003, Citagua's shareholders were Aguia Branca (73.33%) and Cepemar (26.67%). The company was expected to invest US$ 41.4 million (R$ 50 million) over the 30-year concession period. Brazil's national development bank BNDES is helping to finance the investment program with Citagua. In 2000, BNDES approved a US$ 10.3 million loan to Aguas de Cachoeiro. The sewerage treatment plant, operational in 2003, was to treat 80-85% of Cachoeiro's sewage by 2004. The sewerage plant was built by Aqua Mec (Brazilian subsidiary of the Belgian company Unitank). The investments undertaken by Aguas de Cachoeiro year by year, were: 1998 – US$ 0.7 million (R$ 0.8 million) 1999 – US$ 2.3 million (R$ 4.2 million) 2000 – US$ 2.7 million (R$ 5.2 million) 2001 – US$ 5.7 million (R$ 12.8 million) 2002 - US$ 3.2 million (R$ 9.3 million) 2003 - US$ 0.23 million (R$ 0.7 million) None