Managua sewage treatment plant: biogas and solar sludge drying

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The FC module provides for the financing of supplementary measures to the main measure Remediation of Lake Managua - Component Sewage Treatment Plant (BMZ No. 1999.6670.6; EUR 25.45 million), which was completed at the end of 2016. The aim of the supplementary measure is to increase the cleaning capacity of the Managua sewage treatment plant by optimizing the sludge treatment performance and to further improve the ecologically and economically sensible recycling of the waste products generated during the cleaning process (sewage sludge, sewage gas) as well as the operational and financial sustainability of the plant. The supplementary measure is intended to finance supplies and services (i) to optimize the sludge treatment performance, (ii) to expand its (solar) sewage sludge drying and storage capacities and (iii) to generate biogas that can be used for energy purposes. By converting sewage sludge into nutrient-rich granules (for sale as organic fertilizer in agriculture and forestry) and converting biogas into electrical energy, the measure makes an important contribution to reducing the operating costs of the sewage treatment plant (economic aspect). By substituting fossil fuels with renewable biogas, the project also reduces greenhouse gases (climate aspect). The borrower is the Republic of Nicaragua, represented by the Ministry of Finance. The project sponsor is the state water supply company (WVU) Empresa Nicaragüense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados Sanitarios (ENACAL). The total cost of the project is EUR 6.6 million. Of this, EUR 6.0 million will be financed by an FC loan (IDA conditions) and EUR 0.6 million from the Nicaraguan Ministry of Finance's own resources. In addition, ENACAL will use its own resources to cover costs for the implementation unit and for taxes on consulting services.