Above: Port-au-Prince (CJ Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Haiti is set to receive $35.5 million in grant funding for a programme aimed at improving drinking water services in Port-au-Prince.

The grant was approved by the Inter-American Development Bank, which launched the water initiative in 2010 in partnership with the Spanish Fund For Cooperation in Water and Sanitation in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Haiti’s DINEPA water and sanitation agency will carry out the programme along with the Port-au-Prince’s utility, CTE-RMPP, which serves around 3 million people in the capital.

Since the launch, CTE-RMPP has doubled the amount of time it distributes water, from 13 hours to 26 hours a week.

The expanded phase of the programme will work on “reducing losses caused by leaks, clandestine connections and unpaid bills, as well as to improving revenue in order to cover operational expenses,” according to an IDB statement.

The IDB and Spain’s government are financing around $180 million in water projects in Port-au-Prince.