EBRD and EU funds to improve water services in Romania’s Mehedinti county

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Union (EU) Cohesion Fund are expanding their efforts to modernise and upgrade water and wastewater services in Romania, according to a press release issued to The Diplomat – Bucharest

2015-12-06 13:26:37 - From the Print Edition

In their latest joint project, the partners are co-financing the 72.9 million Euro investment plan by Secom Drobeta-Turnu Severin, a regional company supplying water and wastewater services to a population of about 300,000 in Mehedinti county on the border with Serbia and Bulgaria.
According to the release, the EBRD is extending a long-term 5.7 million Euro loan, while the EU is contributing a grant of 57.1 million Euro from Romania's EU Cohesion Fund Programme. In addition, the state is providing 8.7 million Euro and the remaining 1.4 million Euro will be covered by the local budget. Secom plans to expand and modernise its water and wastewater network in the towns of Drobeta-Turnu Severin, Baia de Arama, Strehaia, Vanju-Mare, Simian, Cujmir, Braniste, Gura Vaii, Comanda and Rogova.
The EBRD's funds will be used for improvements to four wastewater treatment plants, 13 new water-pumping stations, ten new reservoirs and 27 wastewater pumping stations, in addition to over two hundred kilometres of water and wastewater networks that will be rehabilitated and extended. The investment will improve the quality of drinking water to meet EU directives and will increase access to and the quality of water and sewerage services, the release also read. As a result, more than 15,000 people will be connected to the water network and almost 30,000 to the wastewater network. The improvements will also reduce water and energy losses, cutting 415 tonnes of CO2-equivalent annually.
"The project envisages the extension of water and wastewater utilities which are much needed for a community to be comfortable and to thrive," Constantin Gherghe, the mayor of Drobeta-Turnu Severin, the capital of Mehedinti county, said, according to the release. Secom is the 24th regional water operator in Romania to receive financing under the EBRD's Romania EU Cohesion Fund Water Co-Financing Framework (R2CF).