Bolivia to improve living conditions for 10,000 families with IDB support

Loans will improve quality of life in poor settlements in several cities.

Bolivia will receive up to US$30 million of loans from the Inter American Bank (IDB) to improve the living conditions of about 10,000 families living in settlements without proper land documentation, basic services and public facilities in its capital La Paz and other urban areas of the country.

The loan, approved today by the IDB board, is the first part of a US$60 million neighborhood improvement program the Bank will finance in Bolivia, where about a third of families live in informal settlements.

About 43 percent of the total US$30 million will finance improvement projects in 21 neighborhoods of La Paz, benefiting 2,940 families. The loan will be used to improve sewers, electricity and sanitation services as well as finance road works and construction of squares, parks, sport fields and community and day care centers. Community development will be boosted by the program through the support of neighborhood organization and regularization of the property cadastre.

The remainder will finance similar improvement projects in 35 neighborhoods in other cities such as Cochabamba, Sucre and El Alto, benefiting 7,000 families. These projects have the same characteristics as those to be financed in La Paz.

The financing, denominated in U.S. dollars, comprises of two loans to be disbursed in five years. It includes a 30-year US$21 million loan from the Bank’s ordinary capital with an adjustable interest rate. The remaining US$9 million will come from the Bank’s Fund of Special Operations, and it will mature in 40 years and have an interest rate of 0.25 percent. Local counterpart funds will total US$6 million.