PRIZREN PUBLIC BUILDINGS ENERGY EFFICIENCY

Overview
Project Summary Document
Environmental and Social Documentation
Procurement
Complaints

Overview

Provision of a sovereign loan of up to EUR 5 million to the Government of Kosovo to be on-lent or on-granted to the municipality of Prizren (the "Municipality" or "Prizren") to co-finance energy efficiency ("EE"), structural and comfort measures in municipally owned buildings, including kindergartens, schools and primary healthcare centres (the "Project").

The Project will be co-financed with an investment grant from the Regional Energy Efficiency Programme for the Western Balkans ("REEP") funded by the European Union.

Project ID 51898

Status Disbursing

Location

Kosovo

Business Sector

Municipal Infrastructure

Notice Type

State

Project timeline

Exploratory
Passed Concept Review
Passed Structure Review
Passed Final Review
Board Approved
Signed
Implementing
Completed

Company Contact Information

Arianit Blakaj
blakaja@ebrd.com
+38345270300

Project ID 51898

Status Disbursing

Location

Kosovo

Business Sector

Municipal Infrastructure

Notice Type

State

Environmental Category

Approval Date

04 May 2022

Disclosure date

21 Dec 2020

Project description

The Project will be co-financed with an investment grant from the Regional Energy Efficiency Programme for the Western Balkans ("REEP") funded by the European Union.

Project objectives

Improvement of the environmental sustainability of municipally-owned buildings in Prizren by implementing EE measures that will lead to energy savings and reduction in CO2 emissions.
Improvement of the energy performance of the renovated buildings by at least two Energy Performance Certificate ("EPC") classes.
Improvement of comfort levels and quality in the renovated buildings, which is very important for buildings of this nature (children and healthcare).

Transition impact

ETI Score:60

primary goal of the project is to achieve significant environmental improvements and promote the green economy transition ("GET") within the Municipality. The project will introduce high quality, innovative EE technologies in buildings that will have a strong demonstration effect and support the "renovation wave" in buildings across the country and the region.

Client information

KOSOVO SOVEREIGN

The Beneficiary of this Project is the municipality of Prizren. Prizren is the second largest municipality in Kosovo and the regional centre of southwest Kosovo with a population of approximately 180.000.

EBRD Finance Summary

EUR 5,000,000.00

A sovereign loan to the Governmetn of Kosovo to be on-lent or on-granted to the municipality of Prizren.

Total project cost

EUR 7,100,000.00

The total estimated project cost is approximately EUR 7.5 million including Technical Assistance.

Additionality

Financing Structure - Commercial long-term financing for public infrastructure investments is not yet available in Kosovo. Morover, Kosovo Kosovo has no access to international capital markets.
Risk Mitigation - The proposed investment will result in energy savings and lower GHC emission, thereby reducing carbon transition risks and take climate action.
Standard Setting - Technical Assistance and loan conditionalities will support capacity building.

Environmental & Social Summary

Categorised B (2019 ESP). This project will have significant benefits related to high quality energy efficiency measures, including improvement to building insulation and replacement of old heating sources, resulting in improved energy efficiency and reduced emissions in public buildings in the municipality of Prizren. Environmental and social due diligence (ESDD) was comprised of an audit carried out by an independent consultant and included site visit to 11 selected buildings. The findings of the ESDD were that the Municipality has some limited elements of environmental and social management in place and is generally in compliance with national legislation. The ESAP has been prepared and agreed with the Municipality.

The Project consists of implementing energy efficiency (EE), structural and comfort measures in up to 100 municipally owned buildings, such as kindergartens, schools, and primary healthcare centres. The EE measures will generate around 59% annual energy savings and 48% annual avoided CO2 emissions (equivalent of 275 tonnes of CO2 emission per year). Technical and E&S DD findings showed that for some buildings, the water supplied does not meet drinking water standards, the sites are not connected to the sewage system and some schools are not equipped with proper toilets. Essential structural and comfort measures have therefore been added to the project scope; they include improvement of damaged structures, sewage/drainage systems, waterproofing, asbestos removal, sanitary rooms, etc. The Municipality does not have an E&S Policy, nor operate an Environmental, Health, Safety and Social (EHSS) Management System. The ESAP requires the beneficiary to assign responsibility for EHSS management at the Project Implementation Unit and to appoint a certified EHS Manager full time within the Municipality.

A Construction Phase Environmental, Health, Safety and Social Management Plan (CESMP) will be developed and implemented by the Contractor, and approved by the Municipality prior to start of construction. The ESAP requires the Municipality to ensure that in every Project building, i) building users have access to drinking water, ii) building users have access to toilets located within the building and equipped with flushing water, iii) domestic wastewater is collected and treated before discharge to natural environment.

All the contracts are in line with Law on Labour. The Municipality staff is covered by a Collective Labour General Agreement and a high percentage of employees are members of a Trade Union. There is currently no planned major programme of retrenchment across the Municipality. Most of the buildings are heated by central modern pellet boilers or firewood boilers of modern technology (or electricity); for the project-related buildings heated by non-certified individual firewood stoves, the ESAP requires replacement by a less air polluting heating system. Occupational H&S issues at the majority of the sites visited during ESDD need improved management; operational corrective actions have been captured in the ESAP. The ESAP also requires to conduct an intrusive asbestos survey and, where asbestos has been identified, to implement necessary measures to reduce the risks of exposure to asbestos fibres. Asbestos surveys will be conducted together with the Energy Audits in each Project building, and the implementation of an Asbestos Management Plan has been covenanted. The thermal insulation of walls and roofs will be suitably fire-rated by the Supplier, as prescribed in national standards. The ESAP requires that the design engineer submit a fire safety report to the Municipality, and that operational H&S issues are addressed after the end of the works (fire extinguishers, fire safety doors, etc.). All the buildings are owned and managed by the Municipality, however in some cases the land parcels are contested by private owners. The ESAP requires the Municipality to obtain the missing land titles. None of the Project building is on the list of buildings which are under protection of UNESCO or national law (as confirmed by a provision in the Loan Agreement). The Municipality maintains its own official webpage. An online grievance mechanism is already in place. A Stakeholder Engagement Plan (SEP) has been developed during the ESDD; the Municipality will notify in advance the building users about the planned reconstruction activities including alternative access to disrupted services (e.g. patients to be sent to other health care locations temporarily).

The Bank will monitor the project through annual environmental and social reports provided by the Municipality, and site visits if necessary.

Technical Cooperation and Grant Financing

Feasibility Study of the Project
Environmental and Social Due Diligence
Project Implementation Support

Company Contact Information

Arianit Blakaj
blakaja@ebrd.com
+38345270300

PSD last updated

25 Apr 2022

Understanding transition

Further information regarding the EBRD’s approach to measuring transition impact is available here.

Business opportunities

For business opportunities or procurement, contact the client company.

For business opportunities with the EBRD (not related to procurement) contact:

Tel: +44 20 7338 7168
Email: projectenquiries@ebrd.com

For state-sector projects, visit EBRD Procurement:

Tel: +44 20 7338 6794
Email: procurement@ebrd.com

General enquiries

Specific enquiries can be made using the EBRD Enquiries form.

Environmental and Social Policy (ESP)

The ESP and its associated Environmental and Social Requirements (ESRs) set out the ways in which the EBRD implements its commitment to promoting “environmentally sound and sustainable development”. The ESP and the ESRs include specific provisions for clients to comply with the applicable requirements of national laws on public information and consultation, and to establish a grievance mechanism to receive and facilitate resolution of stakeholders’ concerns and grievances, in particular, about the environmental and social (E&S) performance of the client and the project. Proportionate to the nature and scale of a project’s environmental and social risks and impacts, the EBRD also requires its clients to disclose information, as appropriate, about the risks and impacts of projects or to undertake meaningful consultation with stakeholders and consider and respond to their feedback.

More information on the EBRD’s practices in this regard is set out in the ESP.

Integrity and compliance

The EBRD's Office of the Chief Compliance Officer (OCCO) promotes good governance and ensures that the highest standards of integrity are applied to all of the Bank's activities in accordance with international best practice. Integrity due diligence is conducted on all Bank clients to ensure that projects do not present unacceptable integrity or reputational risks to the Bank. The EBRD believes that identifying and resolving issues in the project assessment and approval stages is the most effective means of ensuring the integrity of Bank transactions. OCCO plays a key role in these protective efforts andhelps to monitor integrity risks in projects post-investment.

OCCO is further responsible for investigating allegations of fraud, corruption and misconduct in EBRD-financed projects. Anyone, either within or outside the Bank, who suspects fraud or corruption should submit a written report to the Chief Compliance Officer by email to compliance@ebrd.com. OCCO will follow-up all matters reported. It will review all matters reported. Reports can be made in any language of the Bank or of the Bank's countries of operation. The information provided must be made in good faith.

Access to Information Policy (AIP)

The AIP, which entered into force on 1 January 2025, sets out how the EBRD discloses information and consults with its stakeholders to promote better awareness and understanding of its strategies, policies and operations. Please visit the Access to Information Policy page to find out what information is available from the EBRD website.

Specific requests for information can be made using the EBRD enquiries form.

Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM)

If efforts to address environmental, social or public disclosure concerns with the Client or the Bank are unsuccessful (for example, through the client’s project-level grievance mechanism or through direct engagement with Bank management), individuals and organisations may seek to address their concerns through the EBRD’s Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM).

IPAM independently reviews project issues that are believed to have caused (or to be likely to cause) harm. The purpose of the mechanism is: to support dialogue between project stakeholders to resolve environmental, social and public disclosure issues; to determine whether the Bank has complied with its Environmental and Social Policy or the project-specific provisions of its Access to Information Policy; and where applicable, to address any existing non-compliance with these policies, while preventing future non-compliance by the Bank.

Please visit the Independent Project Accountability Mechanism webpage to find out more about IPAM and its mandate and how to submit a Request for review. Alternatively, contact IPAM by email at ipam@ebrd.com for guidance and more information on IPAM and how to submit a request.

Environmental and Social Documentation is not available for this project.

Selected procurement notices related to this project may be shown below. Further procurement opportunities related to this and other projects, if available, maybe be viewed in the EBRD Procurement Portal.

The EBRD's Environmental and Social Policy (ESP), Access to Information policy (AIP) and Project Accountability Policy (PAP) enable sound and sustainable development in its projects. The Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM) deals with complaints about environmental, social and disclosure matters related to the Bank’s investments.

No complaints about this project have been made so far.

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PRIZREN PUBLIC BUILDINGS ENERGY EFFICIENCY

Overview

Project timeline

Company Contact Information

Project description

Project objectives

Transition impact

Client information

EBRD Finance Summary

Total project cost

Additionality

Environmental & Social Summary

Technical Cooperation and Grant Financing

Company Contact Information

PSD last updated

Understanding transition

Business opportunities

General enquiries

Environmental and Social Policy (ESP)

Integrity and compliance

Access to Information Policy (AIP)

Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM)