SKOPJE (North Macedonia), June 3 (SeeNews) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Monday it is considering a 60 million euro ($67 million) loan to finance the construction of a large-scale wastewater treatment plant in North Macedonia’s capital Skopje.
The project's total cost is 120 million euro, the EBRD said in a press release.
The project is co-financed by a 60 million euro sovereign loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB), the EBRD said, adding that additional grant funding for the project is also being considered.
According to the EBRD, the project will introduce for the first time wastewater treatment services for the majority of the 560,000 residents of the capital city, helping reduce environmental pollution in the Vardar River and the surrounding areas, linked to the current lack of wastewater treatment.
The EBRD’s sovereign loan will be extended to the finance ministry, the bank noted, adding that other key entities in the project include: public enterprise water supply and sewerage Skopje (Vodovod) as the final beneficiary of the investment; the city of Skopje, the owner of Vodovod; and the ministry of environment and physical planning, given the project's environmental importance.
The project is complemented by a technical cooperation package that will support Vodovod in its goal to improve its operational and financial performance and build the necessary institutional and technical capacity to implement a large scale investment and successfully start its activity in the wastewater treatment sector.
The project will be the second investment in Skopje under the Green Cities Framework (GrCF) established to provide loans to governments, municipalities, municipally-owned and private companies providing municipal services.
The project has passed concept review and is pending final review with a target board date of September 18.
($=0.89521 euro)