mei projects

Project Summary Documents

Project Summary Documents (PSDs) are disclosed for each project prior to Board consideration. They contain project descriptions, financial details, client information, environmental issues, tender guidelines, and contact details. PSDs for private sector projects are disclosed at least 30 days prior to Board consideration and for state sector projects, at least 60 days.

Project Summary Documents

Signed projects

Board approval is the final stage in the project approval process. After Board approval, the EBRD and the client sign the deal and it becomes legally binding. Signed project lists reflect year-end data.

Signed projects  (0.1Mb)

Case studies

Airport modernisation takes off in Moldova -Donor Report 2009

Landlocked Moldova is one of the poorest countries in Europe. Like most transition countries, it needs a fully functioning, modern international airport to spur growth and development. In 2008 the EBRD provided a €25.5 million loan to modernise Chisinau International, Moldova’s largest and busiest airport.

The funding will be used to upgrade infrastructure, such as the existing runway and taxiways, and other core areas of the airport. The European Investment Bank is co-financing the project with a €20 million loan. This support follows the successful repayment of the EBRD’s first loan to Chisinau International in 1998 to improve its terminal. Since then, passenger and cargo traffic has grown sharply. In the first nine months of 2008 an estimated 800,000 passengers travelled through the airport, a 25 per cent increase over the same period in 2007; there was also a 24 per cent growth in freight and a 30 per cent rise in mail traffic.

Chisinau International is keen to further boost its commercial development, and multi-donor support will help integrate Moldova into the international air transport network. With its strategic location between Europe and Asia, the airport is an ideal hub for many major destinations and has several incentive programmes to attract new airlines.

This was the EBRD’s largest infrastructure project in Moldova in 2008. The European Union’s Neighbourhood Investment Facility is contributing €1.75 million in technical cooperation funds for assistance in preparing a 20-year airport master plan and for project implementation. The multi-donor Early Transition Countries Fund, Germany and the Netherlands are also providing technical cooperation finance for investment and feasibility studies and environmental audits. An environmental action plan has been developed to ensure that the airport modernisation meets EU and other international standards.

Financing water improvements in Montenegro -Donor Report 2009

Tourism is the main growth sector in Montenegro but the unreliable water supply, particularly in summer, is undermining the country’s potential as a tourist destination and deterring international investment in the country’s coastal municipalities.

The Montenegrin government has therefore approached the EBRD and the World Bank for finance to construct a regional water supply system that will provide potable water from Lake Skadar, the largest lake in the Balkans. The EBRD has loaned €15 million to construct the northern branch of the system, which will supply water to the towns of Budva, Tivat, Kotor and Herceg Novi. The World Bank is also contributing funding for improvements.

The regional water supply system will serve a resident population of 170,000 and, during peak periods, up to 250,000 tourists. Construction is expected to be completed by 2010. A safe and uninterrupted water supply will benefit the local people and ensure that tourists keep returning to Montenegro.

The EBRD’s multi-donor Western Balkans Fund is backing the project with crucial funding to cover procurement and supervision of the EBRD’s project input. Donor funding for infrastructure projects in particular is crucial because such projects are expensive for governments to implement on their own, and the lack of private investors in infrastructure means improvements are harder to achieve.

Better infrastructure in the Western Balkans is a precondition for increasing growth at a national level and fostering regional cooperation and trade. The EBRD and donors of the Western Balkans Fund have become catalysts for improving infrastructure and helping ensure the region’s economies trade with one another and grow together.

Finances flow to bring cleaner water to southern Russia -Sustainability Report 2009

The Rosvodokanal Group (RVK) is one of the first Russian private operators to assume responsibility for water and wastewater infrastructure in Russia. As part of the largest, and only the second, public-private partnership (PPP) project in this sector in Russia to date, RVK has leased the assets from eight municipalities that include the cities of Krasnodar, Kaluga, Tyumen, Orenburg, Barnaul, Tver and Omsk and the Lugansk region in Ukraine.

The water supply in these municipalities has not been modernised for several decades and requires urgent attention and investment. With increasing urbanisation and new industries, the systems need to be both rehabilitated and extended. RVK’s aim is to bring more reliable, cleaner water supplies and the benefit of modern wastewater treatment facilities to over 5.5 million people in the region. In 2008, a €42 million loan from the EBRD was signed, and a second, larger loan is expected in 2009. For the follow-on loan, the Bank will try to mobilise commercial funding for half of the amount through syndication with commercial banks.

The EBRD is also providing technical support for the local authorities where Rosvodokanal operates, to help them set up monitoring units and develop a monitoring methodology. Russia currently lacks a model best-practice long-term lease agreement that is based on actual experience. Neither Russian public authorities nor emerging private operators have the experience of structuring and negotiating long-term agreements of this type, which can lead to inefficiency and a lack of investment.

Untangling the legal discrepancies between the EBRD’s requirements and that of the Russian legislation has been challenging, but ultimately the project will ensure that contracts between RVK and the municipalities are close to international practice, lead to a clear tariff mechanism and customer service standards such as a customer call centre and a complaints review system. In addition, RVK will be required to publish service levels on its web site.