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International finance for St Petersburg sludge incinerator
EBRD lends EUR23.8 million for project to cut Baltic Sea pollution
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is advancing a 13-year, €23.8 million loan to finance the construction of a major sludge incinerator for the city of St Petersburg as part of international efforts to cut the pollution of the Baltic Sea.
The Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) is lending an additional €9 million for the €50 million project. It is also being backed by a €6.4 million grant from the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership (NDEP) Support Fund.
The borrower is St Petersburg’s water company, Vodokanal, and the loan will be supported by the City.
The Northern Incinerator is the latest in a series of coordinated projects financed by the EBRD and other parties to protect the underground drinking water reservoirs of the city and reduce the levels of untreated effluent pouring into the Gulf of Finland. Its role is critical, as the landfill in northern St Petersburg, where dehydrated sludge from sewage is currently disposed of, is nearing its operational end.
The Northern Incinerator will be the third project signed under the NDEP programme, which was conceived in 2001 to mobilise help from the international community to tackle the main environmental problems of northwest Russia. The earlier projects, now under way, are the St Petersburg Flood Protection Barrier and the Southwest Wastewater Treatment Plant.
We are today signing an important infrastructure project that will improve water quality for the population of St Petersburg and reduce pollution of the Baltic Sea. It shows how a stronger financial and operational performance by utility companies makes it possible to tackle key environmental investments, said Noreen Doyle, the EBRD’s First Vice President.
The UK Department for International Development (DFID) has provided technical cooperation funds on a grant basis to finance the project’s environmental analysis.
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