“There are already 2'500,000 people with access to drinking water for the first time': Minvivienda

The Ministry of Housing, City and Territory provided an assessment of what it has done with regard to the improvement and expansion of the water and basic sanitation service in the country. He highlighted that, during the government of Iván Duque, one of the highest budgets for the water and basic sanitation sector in the history of the country has been this one with $1.3 billion in 2021 and about $1 billion in 2022.

Previously, between 2011 and 2020, the average allocation was approximately $383 billion. The portfolio claimed that 318 projects were completed with an investment of $2.06 billion, which have benefited nearly 12 million Colombians. In addition, they project that for the closure of the government a total of 350 projects worth $3.2 billion will be completed.

He highlighted that there are 361 active projects whose investment amounts to $4.8 billion and that the entity has financed 7,257 intradomiciliary connections throughout the country.

In commemoration of World Water Day and within the framework of the Colombia Commitment, Water Chapter, 130 projects are being developed nationwide that will benefit 5.6 million people, with an investment of $2.17 billion, which, in addition, will generate more than 10,000 direct jobs.

In addition, Minvivienda indicated that 21 of these works worth $84 billion have been completed and are executing 87 projects worth $1.3 billion, while they expect 59 works to be completed by August, with an investment of $613 billion.

“There are already 2′500,000 people with access to drinking water for the first time; this means that every 45 seconds a Colombian who lacked drinking water turned on the tap and obtained clean and safe water. The gaps are closing and we are sure to fulfill our goal of 3 million connections before the end of this government,” said Jonathan Malagón González, Minister of Housing, City and Territory.

Likewise, for drinking water at the national level and especially for the most vulnerable communities in the country, there are three strategies: Guajira Azul, Agua al Campo and Agua al Barrio.

In Guajira Azul, 579,000 inhabitants of the department have benefited with 29 works completed, increasing the aqueduct coverage in the dispersed rural areas of the middle and high guajira from 4% to 22%, by building five public battery modules that have 22 afferent piles.

“The public battery module in Sararao ensured the supply of safe water for human consumption and this could reduce the multidimensional poverty rate by up to 10 percentage points,” the official added.

With the Agua al Campo strategy, an investment of $279 billion was made to complete 70 projects in 68 municipalities. This type of initiative has generated an increase in the allocation of resources in rural areas, since previously the allocation was 4% of investment to rural projects and today rural areas has more than 20%.

For its part, Agua al Barrio has benefited more than 91,700 Colombians in 58 neighborhoods in 14 municipalities linked to the program. Regarding the issue of basic sanitation and dumping management, according to the Ministry, there are 10 prioritized basins, whose progress ranges from the development of interadministrative agreements to the feasibility of projects.

And they said that “construction will soon begin on wastewater treatment plants for the Chinchiná and Otún-Consotá river basins, in Manizales, Villamaría and Pereira, Dosquebradas. With these works, the percentage of treated wastewater will increase by 2 percentage points.”

The Minister, Malagón stressed that “the Ministry of Housing is preparing a policy document on the regionalization of public services in the sector, which will be the roadmap to 2030 to strengthen integration in the provision of public services”.

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