A proposed law to build a sewer system for the San José area using a loan from the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) took a step forward yesterday when National Water and Sewer Institute (AyA) president Ricardo Sancho sent it to the Executive Branch’s Inter-Institutional Coordination Office, according to AyA spokeswoman Maritza Alvarado.

The office, led by Coordination Minister Marco Vargas, is reviewing the bill — which proposes using a $127 million loan offered by the Japanese bank to build a waste-water treatment plant in the San José metropolitan area – and is likely to send it to the Legislative Assembly, according to Casa Presidential spokeswoman Eugenia Sancho.

“I think this is a project everyone will be agreement with,” Sancho said. “The question is when it will be sent to the Legislative Assembly.”

AyA has been working with the Japanese bank on the proposed sewer project since 2003. The bill, the first to be sent to the Executive Branch since President Oscar Arias took office May 8, states that the first phase of the plant would be completed in 2013 and the second phase in 2025, according to a statement from Casa Presidencial.

The Japanese loan, to be paid back over 25 years, has a seven-year grace period and “one of the best interest rates of these types of loans.” The rate was not disclosed, however.