The Council of Ministers has given the green light this Tuesday to the granting of a loan worth 25 million euros to the National Office of Sanitation of Tunisia, intended to finance the "Choutrana I Wastewater Treatment Plant Rehabilitation Project," whose objective is to "rehabilitate and modernize" the main treatment plant in the country and directly benefit "900,000 inhabitants of the capital."
The action, which will be funded by the Spanish Fund for Sustainable Development and will have the sovereign guarantee of the Republic of Tunisia, will ensure access to sanitation services for both residents of the metropolitan area and, indirectly, to "the entire population of Grand Tunis," which approaches three million people, according to references from the Council of Ministers.
The program also includes an improvement of the "ecological status" of the "coastal waters" and is framed within the Framework Agreement for Co-Financing of the Joint European Financiers For International Cooperation (JEFIC), along with the Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (German Development Bank, KfW), which leads the operation, and the Agence Française de Développement (AFD).
According to the Executive, the initiative "could become a flagship project of the 'Team Europe' approach in the water sector in Tunisia." The total budget amounts to 118 million euros, of which, at most, 21% (25 million) will be financed by the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) through a FEDES loan.
The loan has been set with an annual interest rate of 2.5%, a repayment period of 17 years, and an additional grace period of seven years. Likewise, a guarantee contract will be signed with the Ministry of Economy and Planning of Tunisia to provide the sovereign guarantee linked to this loan.