The consulting service for the expansion of the Water and Sewerage Facilities on Ambergris Caye provides detailed designs for the first phase. The consultancy was awarded to Dillon Consulting Limited (DCL). Subsequent to the award the Government of Belize/Belize Water Services (GOB/BWS) and the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) agreed to modify the Terms of Reference (TOR) to include consideration of climate change and natural hazards impacts mitigation in the development of the detailed designs. This resulted in an addendum, which the Deutsche Gesellschaft Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) provided as a grant to the GOB/BWS.
The aim of the financial contribution from GIZ was to include in the final designs resilience design/building measures to address climate change and natural hazard impacts. Additionally the data collected will be used long into the future as a developmental tool for Ambergris Caye.
The methodology climate trending analysis as the basis for assessing future risks to infrastructure was changed to employ a detailed wave modelling.
This new methodology involves collecting bathymetry and topographic data for inclusion within wave and storm surge models, and will also include the use of light detection and ranging detection (LiDAR) technology. The additional fee incurred as a result is US$91,402.00.
The detailed design works is on-going. The methodology of Detailed Wave Modelling to assess the potential impacts to the new infrastructure allows for collection of site specific bathymetric and topographic (use of LiDAR) data. This will facilitate for a more robust consideration of climate change and natural hazard mitigation in the detailed design. The value of the GIZ grant fund contribution to this project cannot be overstated.
The GIZ grant contribution to the project was strategic, opportunely timed and is facilitating the inclusion of resilience building/construction measures to address climate change and natural hazard impacts in the detailed designs for the new water and sewerage infrastructure on Ambergris Caye. Additionally it was instrumental to the extent that it positioned the GOB and BWS as pioneers in climate change adaptation and natural hazard risk reduction considerations in water and wastewater treatment in the Caribbean. The structure of the fund is well suited for rapid and targeted injection of needed financial contributions into on-going and new projects. Rapid response in many instances is the difference between enhanced and mediocre project outputs and in this case the project outputs were enhanced. The fund direct targeting feature is unique and facilitates precise intervention to project and community development.