News Releases

Nov 4, 2009

Fortaleza in Brazil's State of Ceará will get $59.4 million IDB loan to improve housing, living conditions in watersheds

Project provides basic infrastructure, housing and social services to more than 10,000 poor families

Brazil’s fifth largest city, Fortaleza, located in the Northeastern State of Ceará, will receive a  $59.4 million loan from the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) to provide  basic infrastructure, housing  and social services to  more than 10,000 of its poorest families.

The  project will finance integrated urban-upgrading for neighborhoods located alongside the main rivers in Fortaleza, eliminating environmental risk and physical vulnerability, contributing to an overall improvement in the quality of life of the vulnerable families, and reclaiming these heretofore irregular settlements to the city proper.

Specifically, the loan will finance the construction of flood-zone protection civil works, local roads, water supply and sewerage, street lighting, parks and green space for the communities living on the banks of the Cocó and Maranguapinho rivers.  

Moreover, the loan will also finance the construction of 13 childcare centers, three family health clinics, community centers as well as new low-income housing, improvement of existing homes, as well as registration and titling for benefitted the families. The loan was approved by the IDB’s board today.

With the investment, the IDB will help Fortaleza address critical infrastructure and environmental problems resulting from its rapid urbanization and unplanned occupation of the river banks and of other areas of environmental and physical risk. Currently, more than a third of the 3.4 million people living in the metropolitan area of Fortaleza are poor. 

By the end of the project, 1,040 children will be served by the new childcare centers and 54,000 patients per year will be served by the new health clinics located in the upgraded neighborhoods.  The project is expected to recover and maintain 65 hectares of at-risk areas on the river banks and protect all homes located in the targeted area from floods. As many as 7,000 property titles will be issued to residents, raising the percentage of households with registered titles to 70 percent from 10 percent today.

The IDB loan matures in 25 years and has a grace and disbursement period of 5 years. The loan is denominated in US dollars and its interest rate is based on the London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR). Local counterpart funds for the project total $39.6 million.

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