El Salvador Construction Contractor Builds Houses for Wealthy with UK Aid
El Salvador Construction Contractor Builds Houses for Wealthy with UK Aid
by Fatima Hansia, CorpWatch Blog
June 3rd, 2014
An investment branch of the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) aid agency has come under fire for subsidizing Avance Ingenieros to build elite housing projects in El Salvador at the expense of the UK taxpayer, according to an investigation by the Guardian newspaper.
A key component of DFID’s Business Plan for 2011-2015 focuses on “wealth creation” as a tool for sustainable growth and alleviation of poverty. And the Commonwealth Development Corporation (CDC) – the investment arm of DFID that was set up in 1948 to support the private sector in developing countries - claims on its website that it is committed to “building businesses to create jobs and making a lasting difference to people’s lives in some of the world’s poorest places.”
There is no shortage of opportunities for supporting housing for poor communities in El Salvador via the Fondo Nacional de Vivienda Popular (National Public Housing Fund). The National Fund is part of the “House for All” program that has provided decent housing for over 25,000 low-income families throughout El Salvador for an average contribution of $1,357 to $3,263 per family. But instead the CDC chose to back the family-owned Avance Ingenieros which specifically states on their website that they are a “construction company dedicated exclusively to the construction of houses for the middle class.”
CDC gave Avance Ingenieros $3.3 million through the Aureos Central American Fund - one of the 88 private equity funds that the CDC works to invest capital in small and medium-sized enterprises with the aim of generating quick profits.
More:
http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=15954
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