February 7 (SeeNews) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development said on Friday it is considering providing a 30 million euro ($33 million) loan towards the cost of a 358 million euro water and wastewater project in Croatia's second largest city of Split and its wider area.
The loan is intended to be extended to municipal water and wastewater services provider Vodovod i Kanalizacija for the construction of a water purification plant at Jadro river, and for the rehabilitation and upgrade of the water and wastewater network in the Split-Solin and Kastela-Trogir agglomerations, the EBRD said in a statement.
The project is part of the EBRD's Green Cities Framework 2, designed to serve as a sector-wide catalyst for addressing environmental challenges at city level. It will be co-financed alongside EU Cohesion Funds (around 70%) and nationally, the bank said.
It includes the construction of 120 kilometres of new water pipes, the reconstruction of 70 kilometres of existing water network, the construction of 310 kilometres of new wastewater pipes, the construction of new pumping stations at water storage tanks, and the upgrade of two existing wastewater treatment plants from first to second grade of treatment, along with the construction of a new one.
Vodovod i Kanalizacija provides water supply and wastewater services in the area of 4 cities (Split, Solin, Kastela and Trogir) and 9 surrounding municipalities (Podstrana, Marina, Okrug, Seget, Klis, Muc, Dugopolje, Lecevica and Solta), covering a population of some 300,000 people.
($=0.911693 euro)