EBRD loan to complement EU funds for clean water in Arges County

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) signed an EUR 11.8 million loan to modernize and upgrade the water and wastewater services in Arges County, joining forces with the EU Cohesion Fund.

For this project, the EBRD is providing the loan to S.C. Apa Canal 2000 S.A., co-financing a regional investment programme for water supply and wastewater facilities and networks under EU Cohesion Fund financing for Romania.

According to the official press release, a Municipal Support Deed was signed on February 14 at the EBRD in London, in the presence of his Excellency Ion Jinga, the Romanian Ambassador to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The Romanian delegation was led by the Mayor of Pitesti, Tudor Pendiuc.

Furthermore, “technical cooperation support for the project will be provided by the EBRD Shareholder Special Fund, to assist the regional operating companies through a Framework-wide benchmarking programme for water operators in Romania as well as through procurement benchmarking”, is specified in the official document.

The EBRD loan will be used to finance infrastructure for drinking water treatment and distribution as well as wastewater collection and treatment, for the populations of the towns of Costești, Pitești, Ştefăneşti and Topoloveni, and the surrounding areas, in the central part of Argeș County.

The EBRD’s loan is the 21st investment under the Bank’s Romania EU Cohesion Funds Water Co-Financing Framework, launched in 2010. The facility was originally approved in November 2010, with a volume of EUR 200 million, and further increased by EUR 130 million in September 2012, following strong local demand. To date, the EBRD has mobilized approximately EUR 2 billion of EU funding in Romania’s water and wastewater facilities.

Since the start of its operations in the country the EBRD has invested approximately EUR 6.4 billion across over 343 projects in Romania, and has further mobilised over EUR 14 billion for these ventures from other sources of financing.