The Inter-American Development Bank today announced the approval of a $10.39 million soft loan to Honduras to support the initial phase of a government strategy to provide housing for low-income households that were made homeless by Hurricane Mitch and to establish the basis for the long-term development of the sector.
The program, which will be carried out by the Secretaría de Obras Públicas, Transporte y Vivienda*, has the following objectives:
--Speed the definitive resettlement of the affected population.
--Ensure housing reconstruction in safe areas by strengthening municipalities’ capabilities to manage natural hazard risks.
--Speed the initiation of housing reconstruction, as well as the repair and rehabilitation, of damaged housing.
--Improve the formulation and implementation of housing policy by strengthening the technical capacity of the public sector and by expanding the role of nongovernment organizations.
--Establish a mechanism for mobilizing additional donor resources for housing and for more effective donor coordination throughout the period of reconstruction.
--Lay the foundation for a possible second Bank financing operation to aid the development of the housing sector.
The total cost of the project is $11.55 million. The IDB loan from the Fund for special Operations is for a 40-year term, with a 10-year grace period, at an annual interest rate of 1 percent during the grace period and 2 percent thereafter. Local counterpart funds total $1.16 million.
The loan brings to $195.4 million the total IDB financing for Honduras since the hurricane devastated the country last year. The Bank is financing such activities as family allowances, infrastructure, and community development.
In other action, the Bank announced approval a $1 million grant from the Japan Special Fund to strengthen the operational and technical capacity of the six countries of the Central American Isthmus to prevent and mitigate the impact of natural disasters.