VISP: Vital Infrastructure Emergency Liquidity Loan

Overview
Project Summary Document
Environmental and Social Documentation
Procurement
Complaints

Overview

Provision of a sovereign loan to the Republic of Kosovo to be on-lent to vital infrastructure providers (state and municipally owned companies, and municipalities in respect of vital infrastructure services) affected by the COVID-19 pandemic crisis (the "Project"). The proposed emergency liquidity loan will make available essential financing for working capital and stabilisation to enable vital infrastructure providers to develop effective responses to the crisis. The Project falls under the Bank's Vital Infrastructure Support Programme, part of its Solidarity Package 2.0.

Project ID 52167

Status Complete

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
+383 45 270 300

Project ID 52167

Status Complete

Location

Kosovo

Business Sector

Municipal Infrastructure

Notice Type

State

Environmental Category

Approval Date

22 Jul 2020

Disclosure date

07 May 2020

As permitted by paragraph 2.6 of Section III of the Access to Information Policy, disclosure of this PSD was deferred in accordance with paragraph 1.4.4 of the Directive on Access to Information.

Project description

Project objectives

i. To ensure continuity of vital infrastructure services during the current pandemic;

ii. To support vital infrastructure providers to maintain their capacity and, accordingly, enable the private sector and the economy to recover from the crisis;

iii. To support improvement of corporate governance of vital infrastructure providers.

Transition impact

ETI Score:65

ected transition impact of the project includes:

1) Resilient:

Through stabilisation facilities for key infrastructure providers, which will benefit the local residents and private sector by ensuring reliability and viability of vital infrastructure throughout and beyond the COVID-19 crisis.

2) Well-Governed:

Support adoption and implementation of a draft law on publicly owned enterprises ("POEs") that align its corporate governance-related provisions with international best practices;
Support the Government of Kosovo on developing a state ownership policy for POEs.

Client information

KOSOVO SOVEREIGN

The Borrower is the Republic of Kosovo represented by the Ministry of Finance. The beneficiaries include vital infrastructure providers such as regional water and waste water companies, ICT, postal services, railway and bus transport, solid waste management and district heating.

EBRD Finance Summary

EUR 15,215,063.00

A sovereign loan of up to EUR 30 million.

Total project cost

EUR 15,215,063.00

The total estimated project cost is approximately EUR 30 million.

Additionality

EBRD financing is provided in the extraordinary circumstances of the COVID-19 crisis. EBRD financing effectively bridges a liquidity gap due to adverse market conditions.

Environmental & Social Summary

Categorised C (ESP 2019). The Project is categorised C, since the use of proceeds is related to the provision of working capital to address issues such as office expenses and the payment of salaries (no physical works). The Borrower will be required to comply with the Bank's Performance Requirements ("PRs") but since the Project is not expected to have potential adverse environmental and/or social impacts, the need to develop an environmental and social action plan ("ESAP") was not identified. Environmental and social due diligence ("ESDD") was conducted in-house, and consisted of raising written questions to the MoF on labour conditions, health and safety, and environmental management procedures. The ESDD concluded that the MoF follows national regulation but does not have a health and safety ("HSE") management system in place.

In addition, since the main environmental and social ("E&S") risks in this Project are related to the activities of the eligible sub-borrowers (beyond the Bank's use of proceeds), a post-signing Technical Cooperation ("TC") assignment towards the eligible sub-borrowers will be implemented in parallel to this Project in order to build their capacity and manage their main E&S risks.

The MoF complies with Kosovo's Law on Labour and employees are free to join a workers' organisation. Although the MoF does not have an occupational health and safety ("OHS") management system, occupational accidents and diseases are documented, as required by national regulation, and will be the baseline which should be expected given they are public entities. The condition that, in making sub-loans, the MoF requires in the on-lending agreements that the eligible sub-borrowers conduct their business in accordance with the national regulation related to HSE and labour conditions, has been covenanted. Satisfactory assessment by the Bank of the Borrower's compliance with the PRs during Tranche A is a condition precedent to disbursement of Tranche B.

Phase 1 of the transactional TC related to the Project has been approved by the Bank, comprising the scoping of the capacity building program and the development of the monitoring system, and will start after signing of the loan agreement.

Technical Cooperation and Grant Financing

Financial advisory assistance to larger municipalities to analyse and mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on budgets and finances of municipalities and municipal companies, and provision of key public services.

2. Environmental and Social capacity building programme:

Capacity building of the eligible sub-borrowers on good international practice ("GIP") in relation to E&S issues in the sector;
Supporting the POEs Monitoring Unit at the Ministry of Economic Development in developing and implementing a monitoring system that satisfies EBRD standards, for the duration of hte Project.

Company Contact Information

Arianit Blakaj
blakaja@ebrd.com
+383 45 270 300

Implementation summary

The loan provided liquidity support to 9 POEs that were affected by the pandemic crisis, manifested by loss of revenues, for a total cumulative amount of EUR 15 million. This facility allowed the respective utility providers to continue provision of services, which played a critical role in the well-being of the community and the economy, as well as to maintain their financial stability. Furthermore, a capacity building programme aimed to build their ability to manage E&S risks and improve compliance reporting was successfully delivered. This programme also provided support to the POE Monitoring Unit in developing and implementing a monitoring system for E&S risks in line with best practices.

PSD last updated

03 Apr 2024

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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VISP: Vital Infrastructure Emergency Liquidity Loan

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

Implementation summary

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)