Extended under the EBRD’s Regional EU Cohesion Fund Co-financing Framework (R2CF), the loan will be used to co-finance the company’s EUR115 million EU Cohesion Fund regional investment program for upgrading water and wastewater services, EBRD said in a statement.
“About 300,000 residents of Romania’s Mures and Harghita counties are to benefit from improved water and wastewater services, and 60,000 people will gain access to a reliable water supply with the support of a €15.9 million financing from the EBRD,” the statement noted.
The project will enable Aquaserv to expand and modernize its water and wastewater network in seven towns, as well as 57 communes. Following the investment, most of the region’s population served by the company will be connected to a centralised water supply by 2014, EBRD said.
The project is supported by technical assistance grants provided by the government of Spain and the Bank’s Shareholder Special Fund.
Previously, the EBRD supported similar investments in Romania, in Bistrita-Nasaud, Braila, Brasov, Buzau, Constanta, Covasna, Dambovita, Iasi, Sibiu and Timis counties.
Since the beginning of its operations in Romania, the EBRD has invested over EUR5.7 billion in more than 300 projects in various sectors of the country’s economy.