El Salvador issues water permits for US$1.2bn in construction projects

The government of El Salvador has issued 147 potable water service permits through national water utility Anda for the construction of a number of housing and commercial infrastructure projects in the metropolitan area of capital San Salvador, the government announced.

The announcement was made as a result of the national legislative assembly's decision to approve a French government loan that will be used to upgrade the Las Pavas plant, the country's largest potable water treatment facilitt, which serves around 65% of the population of San Salvador.

The projects, which require a combined investment of US$1.2bn to be made in the next three years, had been put on hold due to the government's decision not to issue water permits. Authorities had cited the supply deficit at the Las Pavas plant as the reason for not issuing them.

The projects, which include housing developments, office buildings, hospitals, restaurants and other types of commercial buildings, are mainly located in the Santa Tecla, Antigua Cuscatlán, San Salvador and Mejicanos municipalities of the San Salvador metropolitan area.

Based on El Salvador's construction regulation, projects cannot move forward unless they obtain technical resolutions from Anda during the early stages of their development. Those resolutions state the amount of water and the kind of service that will be provided to the project, as well as other technical specifications with which construction works need to comply.

According to the government, rehabilitation works at the Las Pavas plant will start shortly.

President Salvador Sánchez Cerén said that an additional US$16mn loan to be used for improving the plant's operations is still pending approval from the legislative assembly.

"I am calling on the legislative assembly to approve the loan as soon as possible, so that we can complete the plant's modernization project and ensure that the supply needs of our capital city are met for the next 30 years," the president said in a government statement.

Late last month, a representative from a local construction chamber said that, at one point last year, there were US$500mn-worth of projects awaiting Anda's authorization. He added that the prompt issuance of the resolutions would help boost the country's construction sector.

The Salvadoran government last year started searching for loans from different financial institutions to overhaul the Las Pavas plant.

In 2015, the French government agreed to provide 53mn euros (US$56.7mn) to go towards mechanical and electro-mechanical repairs to the plant's water intake infrastructure. The loan was pending approval from the national legislative assembly.

PICTURED: Salvadoran President Salvador Sánchez Cerén announcing the issuance of the water permits