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EBRD works with Urals city to improve district heating system
10-year loan for Ufa project to boost service and energy efficiency
One third of the apartment blocks in the southern Urals city of Ufa are to be
equipped with individual heating sub-stations financed by a loan from the
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.
A 10-year EBRD loan will provide 360 million Roubles to install heating
sub-stations equipped with automated control and regulation systems, as well
as heating meters, in about one-third of the city’s 5,500 residential
buildings.
The aim is to cut heavy losses of energy, heat and water that have long
characterized the city’s district heating system.
Ufa, a city of 1.1 million, is the capital of the Russian Republic of
Bashkortostan and temperatures in the area drop to an average of -35 Celsius
in winter. The city of Ufa is acting as guarantor for the EBRD loan.
Projected savings under the new EBRD-financed system are in the order of 8-10
percent regarding energy used for heating and hot water, 20-30 percent for
electricity and 15 percent for chemically-treated water used in the heating
pipe networks.
The project benefits from Finnish and Norwegian grants totaling €600,000,
which will fund international consultants assisting Ufa Municipal Company for
Housing and Engineering Support, the entity charged with implementing the
project, in the areas of procurement, design, contracting, construction and
monitoring.
The government of Finland has already provided €130,000 to fund a feasibility
study which prepared a long-term investment programme and an Environmental
Action Plan to bring the Ufa district heating system in compliance with
Russian and EU environmental standards.
The EU funded an audit of the Company’s accounts in accordance with
International Financial Reporting Standards.
Thomas Maier, Director of Municipal and Environmental Infrastructure at the
EBRD, said the project would demonstrate how the Bank can assist
municipalities in the implementation of infrastructure investments to generate
significant energy savings, as well as ensure an uninterrupted and even heat
supply to residential housing.
The EBRD’s municipal and environmental infrastructure programme in Russia
focuses on local investments, working with local authorities and their utility
companies to enhance their creditworthiness by improving budgeting, debt
management and investment planning.
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