Water and Sanitation in Peri-Urban Areas and Small Towns Project

dropped

Failure

The proposed Project will assist the Government of Bolivia in achieving part of the urban water supply and sanitation (WSS) coverage targets established in the government plans by supporting WSS investments in high-priority targeted areas on a demand-driven basis and will be implemented in the peri-urban areas of selected cities and small towns of Bolivia. The interventions to be supported by the Project have been selected by the Ministry of Environment and Water (MMAyA) using a set of pre-defined eligibility criteria from a list of investment subprojects submitted for financing to the MMAyA by either the municipal governments (GAMs) and/or the water utilities (EPSAs). The eligibility criteria include: (i) subprojects that comply with the requirements set by Bolivian standards; (ii) population with low access to water supply and sanitation services; (iii) subprojects that contribute to improving the operational efficiency and resilience of EPSA; (iv) subprojects prioritized by municipal governments which are willing and have the financial capacity to pay back the proceeds of the loan. The proposed Project will aim to improve the resilience of infrastructure assets, and to strengthen local capacity to design more resilient infrastructure and efficient services. The Project will also support participating utilities in: (i) building their resilience by improving their capacity to manage the demand for and supply of their water resources; (ii) improving the financial and operational viability to ensure that they can better cope with the country’s current and future vulnerabilities, including those related to climate change; and (iii) incorporating hard and/or soft measures in the construction of new WSS systems and rehabilitation of existing systems to ensure a high degree of resilience to climate change-exacerbated floods and droughts. Municipal governments will be at the forefront with a key role in Loan Repayment and Project Implementation. A relevant feature of this Project is that the proceeds of the loan will be paid back by the beneficiary GAMs which will have a critical role in its implementation. The Autonomous Municipal Government of Santa Cruz de la Sierra (GAMSCS), and the Municipal Water and Sewerage Service of Cochabamba city ('Servicio Municipal de Agua Potable y Alcantarillado', SEMAPA) will be responsible for implementing their subprojects through project implementation units (PIUs) which will allow a greater accountability on the expected Project results and a greater leverage in their demands for better performance of water utilities to attain universal access. The other GAMs benefiting from this Project will rely on a PIU based in the MMAyA due to their small size and institutional weaknesses. The Project will contribute to the achievement of higher-level objectives of the GoB as established in its 2021-25 Economic and Social Development Plan (PDES).

World Bank Group

Project

Water Supply and Storage, Waste Processing and Treatment, Commercial, Government