Funding for Social Development of Tucumán

(Special, June 23, 2009). - The Corporación Andina de Fomento (CAF) signed two Technical Cooperation Agreements with Tucumán Provincial Government. These non-reimbursable resources will be allocated to support a series of studies that will improve the supply of potable water to the scattered rural population in the eastern part of Tucumán and to promote the development of new skills in the use of information and training technologies among teachers and students at 14 rural primary schools in this province.

Execution and supervision of the studies for the water and sanitation sector will be the responsibility of the Secretariat of Public Works, attached to the Ministry of Economy for the Provinces and to which the Secretariat of Works and the Provincial Potable Water and Sanitation Service (SEPAPyS) reports; whereas execution and supervision of the schools project will fall to the General Secretariat of the Provincial Government, which will coordinate the different technical and operational aspects of the project with the Ministry of Education for the Provinces.

After the signing of the contracts, María Ángela Holguín, CAF’s director in Argentina, stated that “the Corporation constantly seeks to contribute to the social development of its member countries by financing integration initiatives, promoting synergies, and facilitating the participation of different sectors and players.” Holguín added that the projects stipulated in the operations have a high regional impact and “are of vital importance for contributing to the reduction of poverty and inequality, to regional productive development and the sustainable use of natural resources.”

In the specific case of the studies to improve the supply of potable water to the rural population scattered throughout the eastern region of Tucumán, the project is assigned to the Fund for the Promotion of Sustainable Infrastructure Projects (Proinfra), created by CAF in 2006 to improve the quality of infrastructure projects.

The technical studies include the evaluation of alternatives for the supply of potable water from underground or surface sources; hydrogeological studies required to determine the volumes, depths, and characteristics of underground water sources; and the definition of an investment program that maximizes the social and environmental benefits for the rural population by improving the conditions for providing potable water and sanitation services.

With the financing of these studies it is hoped to define a solid proposal that will facilitate access to potable water and sanitation services by more than 120,000 inhabitants in the rural areas in the eastern part of the province; counteract the uprooting of the population and migration to the metropolitan area; and generate productive undertakings in agribusiness sectors.

A thousand children in Tucumán to benefit from new Internet access project

The second contract between CAF and Tucumán Provincial Government seeks to promote the development of skills and abilities in 25 primary school teachers and a thousand primary school pupils in three provinces of Tucumán via the use of the Internet and new information technologies.

Thanks to this project, a communications infrastructure and equipment network for the use of the Internet and new computer technologies will be developed and consolidated by installing seven towers with their respective antennas and providing 50 computers distributed among 14 schools, including installation of the respective educational software. It will also strengthen teachers’ capacity for using the Internet for educational purposes and spread the use of the network for recreation, work, education, and obtaining and disseminating information.