BRK Ambiental, the largest private sanitation company in Brazil, signed a financing agreement of BRL 578 million (US$153 million) with the Banco do Nordeste, for the biggest sanitation PPP project in the Recife metropolitan area, in the north-east of the country.
The agreement will finance the expansion and improvements of sanitation infrastructure in 15 municipalities of Recife, until 2023. The upgrades include 450 km of new sewage pipeline network, as well as five wastewater treatment plants and 25 sewage pumping stations.
In 2013, the company signed the concession contract for this project with Companhia Pernambucana de Saneamento (Compesa). Since then, it has invested BRL 800 million (US$212 million) in Recife’s sanitation system, developing its sewage treatment, and as a result, coverage has grown from 5% to 40% in 2019. BRK Ambiental aims to reach 90% by 2037, benefitting more than 4 million inhabitants.
The project is believed to be the largest public-private partnership in the country with a total investment of BRL1.245 billion (US$320.8 million).
