IDB loans US$ 452 million to Brazil sanitation works

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has approved a US$ 452 million loan to improve sewage collection at Baía de Guanabara - the second largest bay in Brazil at a size of 412 km² and home to tourism capital Rio de Janeiro.

The funding will help Rio de Janeiro state to move forward on its sanitation programme, which aims to provide sanitation to 80% of the state's 10-million population by 2018.

The Sanitation Pact aims to restore water quality in Guanabara Bay. This will be achieved by increasing the level of collection and treatment of wastewater in the area as well as reducing the organic load discharged into the bay.

The pact will focus on wastewater collection and treatment works and equipment; operational improvement and institutional development; and sustainability of municipal public sanitation policies.

It is expected that around 360000 households will receive sewage collection as a result of the IDB funding.

Rio de Janeiro will host the Olympic Games in 2016. The state has committed to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to invest in the environmental recovery of Baía de Guanabara, with the sewage system critical to this.