May 9 (SeeNews) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Thursday it is lending a 10 million euro ($11.2 million) loan to Kosovo’s state-owned utility Regional Water Company Hidromorava to finance a wastewater treatment project in Gjilan city.
The project will include the construction of a new wastewater treatment plant and the rehabilitation and extension of the wastewater network in Gjilan and neighbouring communities, the EBRD said in a press release, following the signing of the loan agreement by EBRD president Suma Chakrabarti and Kosovo's finance minister Bedri Hamza during the bank’s annual meeting in Sarajevo, Bosnia.
The aim of the project is to improve sanitation standards for over 100,000 citizens and help reduce pollution in Kosovo’s rivers.
The European Investment Bank will co-finance the project with a sovereign loan of up to 10 million euro, the EBRD noted, adding that an EU grant from the Western Balkans Investment Framework (WBIF) will support the preparation and implementation of the project.
“Kosovo suffers from significant underinvestment in water and wastewater infrastructure. In Gjilan, many industries discharge untreated waste straight into the streams and tributaries of the Morava and Mirusha rivers, which eventually flow into the Danube, while households in rural areas discharge wastewater straight into streams,” the EBRD noted.
($ = 0.89293 euro)