By the Caribbean Journal staff

Trinidad will be receiving a $246.5 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank for a programme to improve the country’s environmental conditions.

The loan will finance the first phase of a $546.5 million, three-phase programme that seeks to reduce uncontrolled discharge of wastewater.

The first phase will focus on the construction of two wastewater treatment plants in San Fernando and Malabar, along with strengthening the Water and Sewage Authority.

“The institutional and policy reforms will allow WASA to modernize its institutional and corporate governance and operate under a more sustainable financial arrangement, as well as to adjust from operating many small and medium size wastewater treatment plants to running a smaller number of significantly larger units,” said Project Team Leader Evan Cayetano.

The programme’s second phase will be supported by a $100 million IDB loan. The last phase, with $200 million in financing, will expand the wastewater collection system.

The $246.5 million loan is for a 25-year term.