EBRD lending 6 mln euro to Bosnia's Banja Luka for water infrastructure upgrades

"The EBRD loan is part of a €56 million long-term investment plan by the city to strengthen and expand its water and wastewater infrastructure. The plan will improve citizens’ access to high quality drinking water as well as rehabilitate and extend the city’s sewerage network – another of Banja Luka’s wastewater challenges," the bank said in a statement.

The loan will be provided under the EBRD Green Cities initiative, which addresses environmental and sustainability concerns through a combination of investments in municipal infrastructure, and energy and policy measures. To date, 35 cities in the EBRD regions have signed up to the programme. In Bosnia, the Sarajevo Canton, the city of Zenica and Banja Luka have joined the initiative so far.

The EU is expected to support the project with a grant of 4 million euro under its Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance 2020. Austria and Sweden provided technical cooperation funds to finance the Green Cities Action Plan developed by the city and the EBRD.

($=0.848086 euro)