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EBRD loan brings clean water to 200,000 residents in Romania
The EBRD is lending Regia Autonoma Apa-Canal, the local water utility in Oradea, in central Romania, €6 million to help bring clean drinking water and help improve waste-water services for more than 200,000 residents across the municipality.
The 12-year loan, guaranteed by the municipality of Oradea, is being made alongside a €16.7 million grant from the European Union’s ISPA programme to support the extension and rehabilitation of the sewer network and pumping station and help rehabilitate the wastewater and sludge-treatment plant.
Susan Goeransson, a Senior Banker at the EBRD, said the project is very much in line with the Bank’s strategy to support local utilities without sovereign support. This loan is a strong signal of the EBRD’s growing confidence in the strength of some of Romania's local authorities, and the Bank will increase its support for municipalities across the country, including areas such as district heating and public transport, Ms Goeransson added.
The loan is being provided under the Municipal Environmental Loan Facility (MELF), set up in 2000 to provide co-financing with the ISPA programme for wastewater-related projects in Romania. More than €71 million of EBRD loans have been extended in concert with ISPA grants, which help improve living standards and prevent environmental pollution through compliance with EU environmental standards.
The loan is the EBRD’s seventh to Romanian municipalities under the MELF programme and the seventh issued to municipalities without a sovereign guarantee. The benefits of reforming municipal finance in Romania are beginning to show. Ms Goeransson added that those service utilities and local governments that have implemented tariff reform and commercialisation are now in a position to obtain capital directly.
The EBRD has invested €2 billion in Romania, including more than €230 million in municipal and environmental infrastructure.
EBRD loan brings clean water to 200,000 residents in Romania
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