Paraguay's MOPC plans to create water department

Paraguay's public works ministry (MOPC) presented a formal petition to elevate its potable water and sanitation authority DAPSAN into a government department "to take the reins of the sector and work toward universalizing water access in Paraguay," the ministry said in a press release.

Public works minister Arnoldo Weiss said that water investments in Paraguay normally range from US$50mn to US$60mn per year, but to achieve full water access by 2030 the country needed to invest between US$500mn and US$600mn per year.

Weiss added that one of the government's priorities will be water infrastructure, and that investments could reach US$6bn over the next 12 years.

"The objective is to attract private sector investments," Weiss said.

The petition to turn DAPSAN into a department will now be sent to congress and be reviewed "in the coming days."

Some of the main water projects the MOPC currently carries out include the modernization of Asunción's sewer network and the Chaco aqueduct.

In March, before the change of government, then-public works minister Ramón Jiménez said that the country would invest US$2.3bn in the water and sanitation sector over the next five years.