The Government approved two model contracts that will allow progress in the granting of credits for up to US$ 343.6 million from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (BIRF) and the Financial Fund for the Development of the La Plata Basin (Fonplata) to finance programs to strengthen educational inclusion at the educational level and higher; and infrastructure works in the Bermejo River, through the decrees 155/2023 and 160/2023published today in the Official Gazette.
One of the loans, for US$300 million, will be used to improve educational inclusion at the secondary and higher levels, and will be executed by the Ministry of Education.
The financing, granted by the IBRD, was approved by the World Bank Board of Directors at the end of last February and aims to reduce dropout rates at both educational levels.
Specifically, the amount is intended to support the national Progresar scholarship program, which currently reaches 1.4 million vulnerable young people in order to accompany them and encourage them to finish their studies.
The credit, in addition to financing the scholarships, will be used to improve the guidelines and efficiency of the program, both in the information and management systems to improve the application process and supervise the eligibility and attendance requirements, as well as through the support of spaces in institutions to provide support to scholars in their educational trajectories.
Similarly, it will seek to improve the effectiveness of career incentives in higher education and ensure that institutions submit academic certifications on time.
In addition to supporting the scholarship program, the project plans to strengthen the Aprender learning assessment systems, increasing their coverage -especially in provinces with less penetration- and developing monitoring systems for students at risk so that teachers and schools can help prevent school dropout.
The program already had an IBRD credit of US$341 million granted at the end of 2019 and the new amount seeks to enable the continuity of the project’s execution.
The credit granted is of a fixed margin with semi-annual payments, reimbursable in 31 and a half years; and has a grace period of eight years.
For its part, progress will be made with the granting of a loan from Fonplata for up to US$ 43.6 million for the execution of the second stage of the Bermejo River Basin Development Program, which will be in charge of the Secretariat of Infrastructure and Water Policy of the Ministry of Public Works, with technical assistance from the Bermejo River Regional Commission (Corebe).
The program, which will have another US$ 7.4 million in local contributions, foresees the carrying out of major works associated with mitigating the impact of extreme events and the risk of flooding and aims to improve access to drinking water for vulnerable populations, improving their quality of life.
In Jujuy, the works will focus on containing the threat of urban flooding from the river and the insufficiency of drainage systems in urban areas and the construction of river defenses, covering the towns of Tilcara and Purmamarca; while in Salta the program will address the scarcity and limited access to water for human consumption in urban and rural areas with the expansion of the Embarcación water treatment plant; and the construction of a pumping station and a new 210-kilometer main aqueduct that will cross more than 60 rural areas.
The loan will be repaid in 15 years, has a 4-year grace period and will follow the SOFR reference interest rate, defined by the New York Federal Reserve.
Source: Ambito
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