NADB signs grant agreements for $20.3 million for Texas communities

Eagle Pass, Texas, Aug. 8, 2003 -- The North American Development Bank (NADB) has signed grant agreements totaling $20.3 million for three communities along the Texas-Mexico border.

The grant funds, made available through the Bank's Border Environment Infrastructure Fund (BEIF), will help finance water and wastewater projects for the City of La Feria, the La Joya Water Supply Corporation, and the El Paso County Tornillo Water Improvement District.

"The signing of these three agreements today represents yet another step forward in meeting border infrastructure needs" stated Raúl Rodriguez, NADB Managing Director, adding "these projects represent the core of our function as an institution: providing adequate, basic water and wastewater services to border communities."

In the City of La Feria, a $4.9 million grant will be used toward construction of Phase I of a water and wastewater project that has a total cost of $17.05 million. The project consists of expansion of La Feria's water and wastewater treatment plants, as well as expansion of the city's wastewater collection system. The NADB is also providing $1.99 million in "transition" assistance, designed to offset the impact of the project cost to local ratepayers in the initial years of the project.

The La Joya Water Supply Corporation will use an initial $7.67 million NADB grant for construction of two new wastewater treatment plants and associated collection systems. NADB grant funding for this project will total $27.65 million.

The El Paso County Tornillo Water Improvement District will use $5.68 million in grant funds from the NADB for construction of a new integrated wastewater system that includes a new treatment plant, a collection system and residential hookups. The project's total cost is estimated at $12.73 million.

Through its BEIF program, the NADB has approved more than US$470 million in EPA-funded grants to support the construction of environmental infrastructure in various communities, which will benefit residents on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. Since its inception in 1995, the NADB has approved more than US$606 million in loans and grants for 61 infrastructure projects in the border region.

For more information on the NADB, visit www.nadb.org.

The North American Development Bank, created under the auspices of NAFTA, is a financial institution established and capitalized in equal parts by the United States and Mexico for the purpose of financing environmental infrastructure projects along their common border. As a pioneer institution in its field, the Bank is working to develop integrated, sustainable and fiscally responsible projects with broad community support in a framework of close cooperation and coordination between Mexico and the United States.