WATER & WASTE: The week in 10 stories

In Brazil, a spokesperson from national development bank BNDES told BNamericas that the state government of Rondônia appointed a three-party consortium to plan a waterworks concession model as part of national investment partnerships program PPI. The concession model is set to be one of 18 states concessions to be implemented throughout the country in coordination with BNDES. The resulting projects will be developed as public-private partnerships.

A second concession out of the aforementioned 18 will be developed in Rio de Janeiro state after the local government gave the green light to BNDES to go on with the initiative. The eventual concession model could entail the divestment of the state government's shares in Cedae or increasing the share capital of the state-owned entity or opening it up to private investment

Meanwhile, a local congressional advisor and economist told BNamericas that a bill seeking to exempt companies investing in water and sanitation initiatives from paying certain taxes over the next five years may not be as favorable as it sounds. The bill has still not been analyzed by the country's committee of economic affairs, CAE.

In Pernambuco, nearly 1.7bn reais (US$518mn) have been invested by the federal cities ministry to improve basic water and sewerage services since 2017, according to a ministry spokesperson. The official told BNamericas that some 335mn of that investment -to be financed through federal savings bank Caixa Econômica Federal- were earmarked as recently as this month.

BOLIVIA

A former environment and water minister, and the former heads of state water authority AAPS and state water utility Epsas have been charged by national prosecutors following the worst drought that has hit the country in a quarter century. The disgraced former officials are accussed of failing to maintain public services.

COLOMBIA

The national government launched a policy to reduce risks associated with climate change. Said policy will expand existing programs such as disaster management plans, financial protection plans in case of disasters and strategies to reduce emissions. Through the move, the issue of climate change management will be incorporated into the public and private decision making process.

HONDURAS

The national government opened a 68.7mn-lempira (US$2.95mn) landfill in the Gracias municipality of Lempira department. Some 66,000 area residents are set to benefit directly from the initiative. The project was built with financing from Spain's debt conversion program to Honduras, which is managed by the Central American Bank for Economic Integration.

MEXICO

The shift in relations with the US has created a changing scenario for municipal water utilities in Mexican border areas, according to the general director of the association of water and sanitation companies Aneas. The official told Bnamericas that the policies implemented by the new US administration have mostly impacted the budgets of the bilateral agencies tasked with providing financing and technical support for water and sanitation initiatives in the aforementioned region.

Meanwhile, in Oaxaca state, heavy rains resulting from tropical storm Calvin created an emergency in the state's Tehuantepec isthmus region. Shortly after the storm made landfall, a local Pemex refinery had to shut down operations due to floods, while the rain affected 37% of the area's highway network. Fishing activities were also suspended.

PERU

Some 577mn soles (US$175mn) are needed to repair damaged irrigation infrastructure in the northern Lambayeque region following the record flooding experienced this year. The damaged infrastructure includes dams, irrigation canals, drains, intake systems and riverbank reinforcement infrastructure.