The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has approved €26.8m ($29.5m) loan for wastewater treatment facilities in Belarus.
Through the investment, more than 300,000 people of the region are expected to benefit from improved access to wastewater services.
The funding will be utilised to refurbish and reconstruct the near-obsolete wastewater treatment facilities in the cities of Kletsk, Lyuban, Fanipol, Baranovichi, Bereza, Zhlobin and Shklov to meet the significant national standards and EU standards.
Subprojects in Baranovichi and Fanipol are also expected to meet the implementation of the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) recommendations on quality of waste water, as they are located in the Baltic Sea catchment area.
NDEP will provide $1.65m grant and E5P will provide $4.7m
Additionally, the Northern Dimension Environmental Partnership Support Fund (NDEP) will provide a €1.5m ($1.65m) grant to the subprojects in Baranovichi.
The remaining six subprojects will receive a €4.3m ($4.7m) grant from the Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership (E5P), to which the European Union (EU) is the largest contributor.
EBRD said that the investment will generate environmental benefits such as reduction of CO2 emissions by 38,100 tonnes each year as well as reduction of other emissions, including Nitrogen, Phosphorus and others.
Further, the bank has mobilised technical cooperation funds of approximately €5.4m ($5.94m) for the project. The funds have been obtained from y the Early Transition Countries Fund the Global Environment Facility and the EBRD’s Shareholder Special Fund.
Previously, EBRD has invested around €2.7bn ($2.9bn) in 119 projects in various sectors of the country’s economy.
In September this year, the bank along with the EU, invested €11.5m ($12.6m) to support regular water supply and provide access to fresh drinking water for more than 40,000 people living in small municipalities in the Kyrgyz Republic.
The funding was provided for the renovation of the network, procuring operational and maintenance equipment, along with household metering in the city of Isfana in the Batken oblast in the south of the country.
