Committee approves US$1.7bn rain catchment financing bill

The public works committee of Chile's lower house has approved a bill of how to finance rain catchment works in the country, estimated at US$1.7bn, the lower house reported. Of the US$1.7bn, US$690mn corresponds to the capital Santiago, which suffers from chronic yearly flood problems. Although the original bill outlined two options, one that works be put out to tender/concession by the public works ministry or that they be put out to tender by the housing ministry's housing and urbanization service Serviu, a committee official told BNamericas that the latter was dropped from the bill. The official added that a new clause was added to the bill, which does not limit solutions to only piping works, but other alternatives such as reservoirs/containment pools. The committee will submit the bill to the finance committee by December 2, as the bill includes the possibility of government subsidies to offset the extra charge that would be included in users' monthly water bills to help pay for the works, said the official.