Above: St Lucia (CJ Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

St Lucia will be receiving a grant from the European Union for the country’s water sector, the government said this week.

The grant, which is in the amount of just under $420,000 USD, is the result of a cooperation agreement signed earlier this month between St Lucia’s Water and Sewerage Company (WASCO) and Syndicat Intercommunal du Centre et du Sud de la Martinique.

The agreement, which comes under the 10th European Development Fund ACP-EU Water Facility, will assist WASCO in the development of its capacity in water and wastewater sectors.

It seeks to achieve four goals: acquiring the methodology and tools to develop a “master-plan” for water and waste-water; improving asset management; preparing guidelines for a risk-management plan and developing terms of reference for “procuring services to address deficiencies identified during the preparation of the methodology for the master plans,” according to a statement.

St Lucia’s Minister of Sustainable Development, Energy, Science and Technology, Dr James Fletcher, signed the agreement on the country’s behalf.