BRK Ambiental has announced that it has closed a financing agreement of BRL578 million (US$148.9 million) with Banco do Nordeste (BNB) for a sanitation PPP project in the Metropolitan Region of Recife (RMR), located in Pernambuco state, north-east Brazil.

The financing will fund the expansion and upgrading of sanitation infrastructure in 15 municipalities of RMR, to be carried out between 2019 and 2023. Among the improvements that will be carried out are the deployment of 450km of new sewage pipelines, five new sewage treatment plants and 25 sewage pumping stations.

BNB is providing the financing through a transfer from the Constitutional Fund for the Northeast (FNE).

BRK Ambiental signed the concession contract for the project with Companhia Pernambucana de Saneamento (Compesa) in 2013. Since then, the company has invested around BRL800 million (US$206.1 million) in the region's sanitation systems, increasing coverage and treatment of sewage in the region from 5% to almost 40%.

The company aims to increase this figure to over 50% by 2023, and reach 90% by 2037, ensuring treatment of all effluents collected in the service area and directly benefiting more than 4 million people.

With a total investment of BRL1.245 billion (US$320.8 million), the project is considered the largest public-private partnership in Brazil

Last month, IBD Invest, the private arm of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), approved a loan of approximately BRL350 million (US$90.2 million) for the project. BRL270 million (US$69.6 million) will be allocated to investments in RMR and the remainder to working capital.

BRK Ambiental is owned by Brookfield Business Partners, the flagship listed business services and industrials company of Brookfield Asset Management.