USD 625 million for development and social inclusion projects in Venezuela

(Caracas, December 10th, 2013). Enrique Garcia, Executive President of CAF, Development Bank of Latin America, and the Minister of Finance of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nelson Merentes, subscribed four loan contracts for a total of USD 625 million, which include energy, social development, and potable water projects.     

The signed agreements allocate USD 300 million to the Program for the Consolidation of the Transmission Systems in the Western and Eastern Regions, and Improvements in the Distribution Networks at a National Level; USD 210 million for the Simon Bolivar Social Action for Music Complex; USD 100 million for the second phase of the Program for the Rehabilitation and Optimization of the Greater Purification Plants for Potable Water; and USD 15 million for the Project for the Comprehensive and Sustainable Development Project for the Arid Areas of the States of Nueva Esparta and Sucre (PROSANESU, for its acronym in Spanish).               

The resources (USD 300 million) for the Program for the Consolidation of the Transmission Systems in the Western and Eastern Regions and Improvements in the Distribution Networks at a National Level, seek to support a series of currently ongoing projects, which belong to the transmission systems and distribution networks, so that they may be incorporated in the short run to the operation of the National Electricity System (SEN, for its acronym in Spanish). 

This Program will bring important benefits to the population in the previously mentioned regions, particularly those serviced by the SEN in the states of Lara, Zulia, Barinas, Monagas, Anzoategui and Sucre. 

The second subscribed agreement, for USD 210 million, is for the construction and equipment of the Simon Bolivar Social Action for Music Complex, a place for the development of academic-musical, cultural, and academic instrumental and choral activities that seek to improve the life conditions of children and youths in Venezuela, especially the most vulnerable ones. CAF's total financing for this initiative is USD 350 million, and the first contract, for USD 100 million, was signed in 2010. 

In addition, the signed contract, for 100 million for the Program for the Rehabilitation and Optimization of the Greater Purification Plants for Potable Water, advanced by the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, seeks to improve the supply, quality, and reliability of the potable water supply in the country. 

The greater water purification plants involve an area of concession that benefits more than nine million inhabitants, in cities such as Caracas, Maracaibo, Valencia,  San Cristobal, Cumana and the Island of Margarita. In the framework of this Program, CAF previously approved a loan for Phase 1 for USD 150 million. 

Finally, the contract was signed for a loan for USD 15 million to finance the Project for the Comprehensive and Sustainable Development of Arid Areas in the States of Nueva Esparta and Sucre (Prosanesu, for its acronym in Spanish). The project's objective is to contribute to reduce the levels of poverty and satisfy the basic needs of the inhabitants of arid, semi-arid, and areas in transition in the states of Sucre and Nueva Esparta. 

When Prosanesu ends, it is estimated that close to 55 thousand rural and peri-rural homes of poor communities will have improved their food safety and diversified their incomes in a sustainable manner.