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EBRD invests in environmental improvements to power plants in Bosnia and Herzegovina
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will make a €20 million sovereign-backed loan to raise environmental standards at four thermal power plants in Bosnia and Herzegovina under the extensive Power III programme to reconstruct the country's war-damaged power sector.
The loan will finance upgraded facilities to reduce polluted water discharges and particulate and dust emissions at plants in Gacko, Kakanj, Tuzla and Ugljevik.
The EBRD has already invested about €90 million in the Bosnian power sector, including €70 million through the Power III Programme, which is led by the World Bank with the support of the European Investment Bank and bilateral donors. Last year the EBRD provided €50 million to make power distribution more efficient and reconnect Bosnia and Herzegovina to the regional power grid and access to international electricity markets. The investments required regulatory reforms and encouraged deeper cooperation between the country's two entities: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska.
Foreign direct investments should play a more prominent role in the post-war reconstruction of Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to Jean-Marc Peterschmitt, Director for Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, FYR Macedonia and Kosovo. Deepening cooperation between the country's political entities is helping to facilitate the reconstruction of infrastructure and the creation of a private-sector economy. He said that political certainty, stability and cooperation were important ways to attract more investment.
To date, the EBRD has approved 18 projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina, totalling €171 million. The portfolio consists of 12 investments in the private sector, totalling €29 million, and five in the public sector, totalling €142 million.
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