The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has approved a US$280M loan to finance the third phase of a project that will improve the living conditions of low-income residents of the Brazilian city of Manaus through urban, social and environmental improvements.
According to an IDB press release on Wednesday, the Amazonas State Government will contribute an additional US$120M to this phase of the project, known as Prosamim (Programa Social e Ambiental dos Igarapés de Manaus), bringing the total investment in this new stage to US$400M.
Prosamin was launched in 2006 with the goal of improving living conditions for families in precarious conditions along polluted creeks (known as igarapés) on the margins of Manaus.
The programme has already benefitted 7,300 families who have been relocated to better residences, besides installing 22.400 meters of drainage systems, 58.226 sewage connections and 30.076 paved ways, the release said.
Since the first Prosamim was launched in 2006, US$404M has been invested in these improvements, including a total of US$313M from previous IDB loans.
“With this new stage, our goal is to expand the benefits from the first phases in order to guarantee that by 2015, an additional 75,960 residents will be enjoying the programmes’ benefits,” IDB’s team leader Yvon Mellinger is quoted as saying.
The IDB loan is for a 25 year-term, with a grace period of five years, and interest rates based on the LIBOR (the London Inter Bank Offer Rate) – the rate that the banks use to buy and sell money to each other.
