More water to Guanacaste

Costa Rica seeks to bring water to drought stricken Guanacaste

Ticotimes (Costa Rica) Costa Rica will start a project to bring water to more than half a million people in the arid region of Guanacaste. The government announced the project on Thursday after receiving international financing, putting a proposal that had been pending since 1983 in motion.

The initiative to bring safe drinking water to the people of Guanacaste will also help 746 farmers irrigate of 19,000 hectares of land, the government said.

The project will cost an estimated $457.8 million, and the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) will finance $425 million of it.

The project is just waiting for the Legislative Assembly’s to approve the BCIE loan.

The CABEI noted in its approval that the project would benefit a historically dry zone with problems that have been exacerbated by climate change.

The targetted zone is also one of the biggest tourist hotspots in Costa Rica and home to some of the most-visited beaches in the country.

The project plans on using irrigation canals that go through the Lomas de Barbudal biological reserve in the of Bagaces. The government will have to flood 113 hectares of the reserve to complete the projection.

As compensation, the government said it will incorporate 531 hectares of the surrounding area into the biological reserve.

We are all CABEI,  https://youtu.be/xcOg374aUy0

The Central American regional economic integration process began on December 13th, 1960 with the signing of the General Treaty on Central America Economic Integration, which included the establishment of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration.

CABEI's maximum authority is the Governors' Assembly, integrated by Ministers of Economy and central bank Governors of member countries.

Besides, CABEI's Founding Covenant includes other authorities: Directory, as the organ responsible for the Bank's direction; President, elected by the Governors' Assembly; Vice president, elected by the Directory; and other officials deemed necessary for the institution's correct functioning. 

PARLACEN is the regional assembly of SICA and acts as a permanent political organ to represent opinions and to carry out analyses and discussions about political, economic and cultural affairs of common interest, of basic conditions for democracy, peace, and the integration of Central America, as well to work out initiatives for its realization.