HONDURAS
From pushcarts to faucets
The long-familiar sight of the water vendor, pushing his cart through the steep, dusty streets of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, is about to disappear.
One by one, works to construct potable water systems are being inaugurated throughout the city's poorer neighborhoods as part of an IDB-financed project to improve the supply of water for the country's capital.
New storage tanks and distribution lines were recently inaugurated in three neighborhoods, La Travesia, La Era and La Sosa. At the ceremonies, Health Minister Enrique Samayoa stressed that the materials and labor contributed by the beneficiary communities played a large part in completing the works. The time is past when one talks of a government project, he said strictly, because the works are now the result of cooperation among the state, citizens, civil society and financial agencies.
In October, another important part of the program was completed with the inauguration of the Los Laureles water treatment plant, which serves some 30 percent of Tegucigalpa's population.
In inaugurating the plant, Manuel Antonio Romero, manager of the national water and sanitation agency, said that his agency is now engaged in what he called his "star program" of controlling the loses from the 900-km potable water network.
The Tegucigalpa water supply project includes the construction or rehabilitation of wells, the rehabilitation of the Los Laureles dam and treatment plant and the construction of a new plant, improvement of pumping stations and the repair of distribution lines.
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EL SALVADOR
More than a place to sleep
El Salvador's capital has a new princess who stands 15 floors tall and is modern in every respect.
The 206-room Hotel Princess, inaugurated in December, joins her siblings of the Cadena Imperial Hotels & Resorts, a Central American hotel chain that caters to the needs of businesspeople.
In addition to the usual facilities, the hotel offers business guests two executive floors with secretarial services, meeting rooms, faxes and other services. It was built in a little less than two years.
The $25 million project was financed with the help of resources from an IDB-financed global credit program.