December 21 (SeeNews) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on Friday said it will lend 11.4 million euro ($16.4 million) to the water utility of Bulgaria's second largest city of Plovdiv for upgrades.
"The bank’s loan will help the company implement a 14.4 million euro programme to cut leakages, lower maintenance costs and improve the management and control of the water system and equipment," the EBRD said in a statement.
The EBRD said in August it was planning to lend 9.1 million euro to the Plovdiv water utility.
The bank will also provide to the water utility 300,000 euro in technical cooperation for a broad range of support services which will support the management of the company in improving its performance and strengthen its capacity to develop and implement investment projects, the statement said.
The EBRD has previously backed projects with regional water utilities in Bulgaria’s cities of Burgas, Ruse and Stara Zagora. The bank has invested more than 1.5 billion euro in 114 projects in Bulgaria so far.
($ = 0.6959 euro)