BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC—The Barbados-based Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) said Friday it is providing US$749,619 to St. Lucia to improve the reliability, resilience, and sustainability of the island’s water supply and sewerage services.
It said technical assistance is being provided to the Water and Sewerage Company Inc (WASCO) to develop a climate-resilient water supply and wastewater masterplan and improve WASCO’s capacity to assess climate risk and plan future climate-resilient investments.
The region’s premier financial institution said this will ensure the company can deliver safe drinking water and wastewater management services efficiently and sustainably. The service improvement will benefit WASCO’s current customers and help accommodate its steadily increasing new customer base.
“WASCO will be able to assess climate risks and identify, prioritize, and execute suitable programs and projects that enhance the resilience of water supply and sewerage services, and the masterplan will provide key stakeholders with comprehensive guidance for prioritized investments,” said CDB Division Chief, Environmental Sustainability, Valerie Isaac.
She added that women will be targeted for training and capacity building, as they are critical to the sustainability of water and sanitation improvement initiatives.
“This intervention will significantly impact the women and rural population groups and ultimately improve the lives and well-being of Saint Lucia’s residents and visitors.”
The project is being executed under the CDB’s Caribbean Action for Resilience Enhancement (CARE) Programme, which the European Union funds through the 11th European Development Fund’s (EDF) Intra-African Caribbean Pacific – European Union- (ACP-EU) Natural Disaster Risk Reduction Programme.
CARE is a five-year, Euro14 million (One Euro=US$1.29 cents) initiative to support disaster risk management and climate resilience building efforts in CDB’s 19 Borrowing Member Countries (BMC)
The program provides grant financing to support initiatives to improve governance on disaster risk management and climate change adaptation. Financing is also used to strengthen dance-based and gender-sensitive decision-making and financial response to the effects of climate change and natural hazards, as well as enhance community infrastructure and livelihood resilience to climate change and natural hazards.
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