Sweden, Finland, NDEP provide fund to five Belarus water utilities

The Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership (NDEP) and the Government of Finland have provided funds totalling EUR20m ($25.7m) to five Belarus water utilities.

The five water utilities, Grodno Vodokanal, Vitebsk, Baranovichi, Slonim, and Brest, will use the fund to treat wastewater as per standards specified by the European Union (EU) and the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission (HELCOM), to prevent discharge of untreated effluent in the Baltic Sea.

Upon the completion of the wastewater treatment and biomass gas plants, the discharge of phosphorus, nitrogen, and organic material into the Baltic Sea is expected to reduce.

The fund will be directly distributed to the project contractors selected through international tender process.

Of the total fund amount, SIDA will extend a grant of EUR13.6m ($17.4m).

Grodno Vodokanal will get funding of EUR3.6m ($4.6m) and Vitebsk will receive EUR2.7m ($3.4m) to improve wastewater treatment plants.

The Baranovichi and Slonim municipalities will each get EUR1.4m grant to install new biogas plants.

In addition, SIDA will give a grant of EUR4.5m ($5.7m) for technical assistance to three European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)-aided projects in Vitebsk, Baranovichi and Slonim.

Finland will contribute a EUR800,000 ($1m) fund for the projects.

The NDEP will extend EUR6m ($7.7m) for Vitebsk, Grodno and Brest to support loans from the EBRD and Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) signed in December 2012.

The NDEP support fund is a multi-donor fund managed by the EBRD, which receives contributions from the EU and the 12 donor governments of Belarus, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Sweden and the UK.

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Image: Five water utilities in Belarus will receive grants from NDEP, Sweden and Finland to upgrade wastewater facilities and prevent discharge of untreated effluents into the Baltic Sea. Photo: Courtesy of Argonowski.