President Lacalle Pou led the conference in which the Government announced the completion of the first stage of the universal sanitation plan in Uruguay.
The strategy implies the access of 61 localities to this improvement, with 42 residual liquid treatment plants, 110 pumping wells and 844 kilometers of sanitation networks. The users who will be able to access the new connections amount to 54,850.
The president indicated that the tender will begin in February 2023, and recalled that OSE is developing another large-value project, such as the one that will execute the Arazatí water intake. “We are very pleased with the work done,” he said.
In his speech, the Minister of the Environment, Adrián Peña, celebrated the announcement and pointed out that it required two years of work by technicians and leaders of the Environment and OSE. In addition, he recalled the investment of 250 million dollars that will be made in the intake and purification of water from the Río de la Plata, which added to this project, totals an investment of 500 million dollars. “It is the most important environmental investment in the history of Uruguay”, he valued.
Regarding the beginning of the works, he stated that they are expected to begin at the end of 2023, and that the call for bidders will be international, and private initiative. Regarding the financing, he indicated that the State will begin to pay for the work when it is available to operate, and that the payment term is about 25 years. However, he remarked that the final details will be known in the bidding document that will be opened next February.
“This is the sanitation plan that Uruguay already has, what the Government is doing is advancing the pace of execution,” he concluded.
The total investment amount for this national project amounts to more than 284 million dollars.
In the department of Colonia there will be 6 cities in which sanitation works will be developed: the departmental capital, Valdense, Nueva Helvecia, Nueva Palmira, Ombúes de Lavalle and Tarariras.
