Asuncion Riverfront Urban Resilience Project

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Paraguay has been characterized by relatively solid economic growth and poverty reduction in recent years, but the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to stall or even reverse this progress. Almost two-thirds of Paraguayans live in cities, and 38% of the total population is concentrated in the Metropolitan Area of Asuncion (AMA), whose rapid growth has not been accompanied by a corresponding capacity to plan and provide services to an increasingly complex and vulnerable urban landscape. The AMA reflects the natural and anthropogenic risks that Paraguay faces today: lack of economic opportunity, poor urban planning, poor housing conditions, poor coverage of public services, lack of public spaces, natural ecosystems threatened by improper land use, increasing exposure to climate-change-related hazards like flooding, and COVID-19. The Government has requested support for a multipurpose, integral program to jumpstart the regeneration of the riverfront of Asuncion. The Project will have four components: (i) Component 1 will finance the construction of resettlement housing, new public spaces, and connections to public services in a specific riverfront area; (ii) Component 2 will support the implementation of three urban subprojects to revitalize public spaces and green areas; (iii) Component 3 will support economic development and participatory strategies for improving the quality of life and livelihoods of vulnerable communities; and (iv) Component 4 will support capacity building for national and municipal authorities on urban planning, land use and risk management.