IDB provides loan to improve drainage infrastructure in Uruguay

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has allocated a $20.5m loan to improve the urban drainage infrastructure in Montevideo, Uruguay.

The aim of the project is to minimise the impacts caused by the lack of or inadequate urban drainage, mainly in the upper basin of the Arroyo Seco, the upper basin of the Arroyo Quitacalzones, as well as the Cañada Peabody basin.

Work will involve construction of stormwater drainage works, including flood buffer ponds, conduits to increase the capacity of spillways to drain excess water, and complementary structures.

The loan will also be used to finance the installation and equipping of 12 hydro-meteorological stations, which will provide information useful in the design of future works and the detection of changes in rainfall patterns.

On completion, the project will protect adjacent areas from environmental degradation and urban flooding caused by wastewater and stormwater, and will benefit some 4,500 people.