January 30 (SeeNews) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is extending a loan of up to 8.7 million euro ($9.6 million) to the water supply and sanitation company serving the Bulgarian city of Ruse, the bank said on Thursday.
The loan to the Ruse water utility company consists of 5.9 million euro of EBRD financing and 2.8 million euro provided by the EU’s European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF), the EBRD said in a statement.
The loan will be used to rehabilitate 63 km of water supply pipelines, build more than 40 km of wastewater collection infrastructure and 5.5 km of water transmission main between the town of Slivo Pole and the village of Borisovo.
As a result of the investment, over 220,000 residents in the region of Ruse will benefit from better water and wastewater services in line with European standards, including significant environmental benefits by cutting water losses and connecting the households of over 27,000 people to the sewer system or centralised wastewater treatment, EBRD said.
"Moreover, through technical cooperation, the project will strengthen the company’s financial and operational performance as well as foster the transition of the sector towards higher efficiency and stronger focus on the customer," the EBRD explained.
This is the first project under the bank’s ESIF Bulgarian Water Sector Framework established to co-finance strategic infrastructure investments, aiming at complying with EU directives.
($ = 0.90735 euro)