LAIF ECUADOR Programme

In Portoviejo, the municipal government has launched an ambitious program to improve the population’s access to water and sanitation. A broad alliance of donors has been formed to make this a reality. Spanish Cooperation has an essential participation through three mechanisms (EU delegated funds, reimbursable financing from FONPRODE, and a donation from the Water Fund). This program aims to establish an ample 47 km drinking water and sewerage system along the Chico River and small projects to serve dispersed rural areas that cannot be connected to the general system. It also incorporates actions for community development and institutional strengthening, such as the reinforcement of the Portoviejo (Portoaguas) Municipal Public Company for Drinking Water and Sanitation through a twinning agreement with the Metropolitan Public Company for Water Supply and Sanitation of Seville (EMASESA).

The total operation amounts to 114 million euro and combines various financing and donations. On the one hand, there is the so-called «base project» based on credits, and on the other, the specific program to extend benefits to the most remote populations, which the FCAS and the EU finance.

The distribution of funds is as follows: A credit operation between the EIB (€54.44 M), FONPRODE (€15.45 M), the IADB (€25 M), and the Autonomous Decentralized Municipal Government (GADM) of Portoviejo, in addition to a donation provided by the FCAS-AECID funds, the LAIF project and the GADM of Portoviejo, to provide drinking water and sanitation to the dispersed rural communities and offer integral support for the execution of the base project. The program has significant positive impacts, both social and environmental. It has a strong community development component to ensure the participation of the beneficiary population in all phases of the program to achieve the sustainability of the systems.