Bosnia, EBRD sign 13 mln euro loan deals for heating, water supply projects

The EBRD will provide a 7.0 million euro loan to district heating company Toplana in Prijedor and a 6.0 million euro loan to public utility company Komunalac in Gradacac, the finance ministry said in a statement published on its website.

The project in Prijedor includes the construction of a new combined heat and power generation plant based on biomass. Toplana AD Prijedor is a shareholding association majority-owned by the city of Prijedor. The Swedish International Development and Co-operation Agency, Sida, and EBRD jointly provided additional 2.5 million euro in grants for the project.

The project in Gradacac involves the expansion of the water supply network to rural areas of the municipality and the replacement of dilapidated water mains to reduce the amount of water losses. Sida and EBRD also provided 1.4 million euro in grants for the Gradacac project.

The loans should be repaid within 15 years with a grace period of three years and an interest rate based on the six-month EURIBOR plus 1.0%.

The projects should be completed by the end of 2017.

Prijedor is a city in the northwestern part of Bosnia's Serb Republic. Gradacac is located in Bosnia’s other entity, the Muslim-Croat Federation.

($=0.8209 euro)