On 26 and 27 May, Swiss Ambassador Markus-Alexander Antonietti and SDC’s Head of Cooperation in the Andes met the regional governor, Luis Guillermo Hidalgo, the regional housing director, Edgar Marlon Luque, and other authorities in Madre de Dios to learn about the impact of the SABA project more than two years after its completion.
Their agenda included meetings and field visits, to learn about the continuity of the SABA model and its experience in managing and providing chlorinated water services and disease reduction.
They had a meeting with the governor of the region, at the regional government offices. He presented the continuation of the SABA model and local experience in water and sanitation services management and provision in rural and small towns in the Madre de Dios region, and described the improvement in the health and quality of life of the beneficiary communities.
Officials from the regional government and the housing, construction and sanitation department presented the experience and strategy of Madre de Dios, including the activity called ROMAS REGIONAL (Water System Replacement, Operation and Maintenance), which is based on deep underground wells, automated chlorination systems, drip chlorination systems, solar pumping systems, micro-metering and billing, which is closing gaps in chlorinated water and reduction of diseases such as ADD, CCM and anaemia. This work is coordinated between the Madre de Dios Regional Government through its Regional Housing, Construction and Sanitation Department, the local government through its municipal technical area and the community organisation JASS.
The Swiss delegation was accompanied by the Governor Luis Hidalgo Okimura; the Director of Housing, Marlon Luque Araoz and the DRVCS sanitation technical team and visited the Monterrey JASS in the District of Las Piedras, where they were able to see and discuss chlorinated water quality treatment and administrative management.
Monterrey demonstrates the importance of the community members’ work, because they have ensured the sustainability of the chlorinated water project started by the Swiss Government in 2016, through the SABA+ Project, and which today benefits 150 inhabitants.
Source: Regional Government of Madre de Dios
