IDB funds Honduras water sector upgrade

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Rural and semi-rural areas will see drinking water and sanitation improve.

Rural and semi-rural areas will see drinking water and sanitation improve.
The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has approved $45m of finance for drinking water and sanitation projects across rural and small-town areas of Honduras.

The potable water and sanitation programme will target investment at areas that have historically lacked access to basic drinking water and sanitation services and is expected to bring these vital upgraded services to over 30,000 homes.

$38.6m of the funding will be used for building wastewater treatment systems, new drinking water distribution infrastructure and sanitary sewers and individual sanitation solutions. This work will be expected to incorporate resilience capacity to help mitigate the effects of natural disasters and the effects of climate change. There will also be education programmes run to ensure that local communities are able to participate in operation, maintenance and administration of the infrastructure.

Other parts of the $45m will be allocated to pre-investment plans and for sector strengthening activities at national, departmental, and municipal entities in priority areas. This reflects a significant need to strengthen their planning, monitoring and technical capacity in Honduras to make their systems more sustainable.

The finance will be provided as a loan to the Honduran Department of Community Development, Water, and Sanitation which will also benefit from finance to help strengthen Honduran water. Additionally, work will be conducted to improve water utilities’ management in order to ensure the sustainability of future infrastructure investments and efforts to improve climate change resilience.