PA Metro Water and Sanitation Improvement Project

closed

The objective of the Metro Water and Sanitation Improvement Project for Panama is to increase the quality, coverage and efficiency of its water supply and sanitation (WSS) services in the lower-income neighborhoods of selected areas of the Panama Metropolitan Region (PMR). There are three components to the project. The first component of the project is water supply and sanitation service improvements in lower income neighborhoods. The objective of this component is to increase the coverage of reliable water supply and sanitation services, in selected areas of the PMR where living standards are lower and also the provision WSS services is of an inferior quality compared to the rest of Panama city. It will finance network extension and rehabilitation activities, initially focusing on the neighborhoods of Alcalde Diaz and Chilibre and parts of the district of San Miguelito in Panama metro, where service is currently limited for a significant part of the residents and sewer connection rates are lower than in other parts of the PMR. In addition, IDAAN's (Instituto de Acueductos y Alcantarillados Nacionales - National Water and Sewer Agency) approach to working in lower income, peri-urban settlements will be revisited in-depth on the basis of regional good practices and a strong social outreach program will be developed to ensure that new users actually connect to the networks being built and do not become a financial burden on the utility in terms of tariff payment. The second component of the project is modernization of WSS systems in IDAAN's Colo'n Business Unit. The objective of this component is to improve the efficiency and quality of water supply and sanitation services in one business unit of IDAAN. It will target the unit of Colon and finance a series of structural and non-structural measures. This component will benefit from recent major infrastructure investments undertaken by the Government in water and sewer networks, investments that did not result in significant service quality improvements mostly for management reasons. The component's activities and costs were based on a rapid needs assessment. The third component of the project is institutional strengthening and project management. The objective of this component is to strengthen the capacity of IDAAN to implement, evaluate and learn from the project's activities. It will include two sub-components, one seeking to strengthen the institution itself though the development of a management information system covering all business units and processes as well as capacity building activities, and another encompassing project management and monitoring activities.