Bolivia lines up German financing for water projects

Bolivia, which has battled severe drought in highland regions in recent years, lined up German financing for water projects.

The governments of Germany and Bolivia signed cooperation agreements that will facilitate 20.4mn euros (US$23.2mn) in technical cooperation from state agency KfW in addition to 26.5mn euros in loans for potable water and sewerage projects, foreign minister Diego Pary said.

The accords include potable water and sewerage projects in the city of Sucre and reforestation programs. The two governments will study further agreements during talks scheduled for May in Berlin, according to Pary.

"We value the constant commitment and collaboration of the German government," Pary said in broadcast comments. "We're not just working on technical and financial cooperation, but also on commercial, financial and investment issues."

Germany will provide an additional 1mn euros in financing for innovative social initiatives, the country's ambassador Matthias Son said.

In other water infrastructure news, the government finished work on a 4.5mn-boliviano (US$630,000) conservation program in the Quinamara river basin in Potosí department, part of the national watershed plan.

The program involves construction of 14 irrigation systems, terracing, dikes and reforestation of a 21ha area that will benefit 300 families in the face of climate change, the environment and water ministry said in a statement.

President Evo Morales' government has invested 13.669bn bolivianos in the water sector since taking office in 2006, more than tripling the amount spent from 1997-2005, according to the environment ministry.

Morales, who declared a national emergency and sacked his top water officials for failing to warn the government about the lack of water supply in late 2016, is accelerating potable water and sewerage projects after the country's worst drought in half a century forced state utility Epsas to restrict water supply in La Paz, a city of 800,000.

The eastern Andean region over the past two years has suffered the effects of both global warming and the La Niña phenomenon, where cooler ocean temperatures cause drought on higher ground.