Environmental Projects in the Balkans, Danish Environmental Protection Agency

Environmental Assistance to Eastern Europe 2001

Environmental Projects in the Balkans

After a decade of regional conflicts combined with destruction and breakdown of the environmental infrastructure, breakdown of polluting industry and energy systems and inadequate institutional capacity plus the absence of enforcement of the environmental legislation, the countries in the Western Balkans have been left with a number of acute and serious environmental problems. Lack of effort in the environmental sector for many years has, besides those environmental damages directly resulting from the conflict, caused large environmental problems within both the water and waste sector and problems in relation to air quality, the chemical sector and the administration of natural resources. For this reason assistance has been given to a few individual projects during the summer and fall of 2001. As a result of the overall positive political development in the Western Balkans, a document concerning DDK 32.8 mill was approved by the Danish Parliament in the beginning of November 2001 to support the countries in relation to projects under the Stability Pact, including among other the overall political frame work for the co-operation on the environment between EU countries, the Balkans, G-8 countries and the International Finance Corporation. The Stability Pact includes projects on environmental infrastructure and the Regional Environmental Reconstruction Programme, REReP, for Southeast Europe. The effort has particularly been concentrated on 1) approximation to EU's environmental laws, 2) assistance to the civil society and implementing of the Aarhus Convention and other international environmental conventions 3) clearing projects as a follow up to the work of UNEP/UNCHS Balkan Task Force on war destruction 4) projects with regional dimensions/cross-border character plus 5) national or local focusing character. In addition assistance is given to projects on environmental infrastructure relating to the Stability Pact and where primarily international finance corporations have been and will become the conveyors. In 2001 the effort has been directed towards The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Croatia and BosniaHerzegovina. In 2001 a total of DKK 24.7 million was granted to these countries. Finally, assistance was given to projects on environmental infrastructure in Romania and Bulgaria, where the effort is more advanced. These projects are mentioned in relation to the relevant countries.

Project title	Study on Options for Optimal heat Provision in Maglaj, Bosnia
File no.	124/007-0006
Project recipient	Municipality of Maglaj
Project manager	Carl Bro as
Project description	This project includes a thorough study on how to achieve a reasonable heating service in a war-torn Bosnian city, if the district heating station has been non operational since the war in 1994. The study will focus on energy saving measures and compare this with cheap methods of supply.
Environmental effect (expected)	No in this phase.
Grant	DKK 552,970
Total costs	DKK 662,167

Project title	Pre-feasibility study for EBRD in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
File no.	124/019-0002
Project recipient	EBRD
Project manager	Rambøll as
Project description	On behalf of EBRD a pre-feasibility study will be prepared concerning water, waste water and rubbish with focus on the cities of Belgrade, Novi Sad and Nis in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia /FRY. The report will be discussed at a board meeting in EBRD.
Environmental effect (expected)	No in this phase.
Grant	DKK 716,776
Total costs	DKK 766,776

Project title	Environmental Remediation of the Pancevo Waste Water Canal in the FRY
File no.	124/019-0004
Project recipient	Ministry of the Environment, Municipality of Pancevo plus factories in the area.
Project manager	UNEP
Project description	The project will prepare the necessary preliminary work to clean up the Pancevo Waste Water Canal, a highly prioritised hotspot in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia /FRY. The project will work in close cooperation with UNEPs "Clean-up of Environmental Hotspots Programme" and UNEP Balkans. The project includes establishing of criteria for cleanup, design and clean-up of the canal polluted with EDC, lead and oil and the preparation of tender document for final construction and clean-up.
Environmental effect (expected)	This is a technical assistance project to prepare the clean-up of canal water, polluted with, among others, EDC, lead and oil. Since this canal flows directly into the Danube, the project will also result in a reduction in the pollution of the Danube.
Grant	DKK 7,761,500
Total costs	DKK 20,000,000

Project title	Municipal Infrastructure Reconstruction Programme, Belgrade
File no.	124/019-0005
Project recipient	Belgrade Water Company
Project manager	COWI as
Project description	EBRD has agreed to grant a loan to the city of Belgrade to implement projects on infrastructure, including water supply in the city. This project includes technical assistance to PIU on two components: construction of MAKIS II water treatment plant and Kalujerica water main.
Environmental effect (expected)	No in this phase.
Grant	DKK 2,166,310
Total costs	DKK 2,166,310

Project title	Municipal Infrastructure, Reconstruction Programme, City of Nis
File no.	124/019-0006
Project recipient	Nis Water Company
Project manager	COWI as
Project description	EBRD has agreed to grant a loan to city of Nis to finance an infrastructural rehabilitation programme within the water and waste water sectors in Nis. The present project includes technical consultancy work for the project implementation unit in four areas: an increased water supply from the Krupac Springs, improvement of the water main, an increase in the reservoir capacity in Vinik and equipment for cleaning the sewers. *
Environmental effect (expected)	No in this phase.
Grant	DKK 2,150,091
Total costs	DKK 86,966,091

Project title	Emergency Repair within the Serbian District Heating System
File no.	124/019-0008
Project recipient	District heating companies in Nis, Belgrade and Novi Sad
Project manager	Grundfos Management
Project description	The equipment in district heating systems in the cities of Belgrade, Novi Sad and Nis is characterised by being old and very inefficient and using an extremely high amount of energy. During the project the central heat exchangers and pumps will be replaced an thus, in part, solve the problems.
Environmental effect (expected)	Reduction: 278 tonnes CO₂/year, 3.9 tonnes CO/year and 2.9 tonnes NO_x/year.
Grant	DKK 1,788,356
Total costs	DKK 2,544,080

Project title	Assistance to Croatia on implementation of the Aarhus Convention
File no.	124/022-0004
Project recipient	Department of the Environment, Croatia
Project manager	COWI as
Project description	The project will assist Croatia in ratification and implementation of the UN-ECEs Aarhus Convention by, among others, juridical analysis of the existing legislation, preparation of Croatian national laws in compliance with the Convention, costs analysis on the implementation, preparation of summaries on all relevant environmental data and information plus preparation of information policies and procedures to handle the public's request on specific right of access to documents.
Environmental effect (expected)	No immediate.
Grant	DKK 2,169,130
Total costs	DKK 2,169,130

Project title	Preparation of a Project to assist Croatia to develop and implement a National Waste Management Plan
File no.	124/022-0005
Project recipient	Department of the Environment, Croatia
Project manager	Rambøll as
Project description	The project will assist the Croatian Department of the Environment in drawing up project documents for the preparation of a national waste management strategy, including identification of relevant investment projects in the waste sector for potential Danish assistance.
Environmental effect (expected)	No immediate.
Grant	DKK 639,986
Total costs	DKK 639,986

Project title	Improvement of Waste Management in Vinkovci
File no.	124/022-0006
Project recipient	The city of Vinkovci and Vukovar County
Project manager	Rambøll as
Project description	The purpose of the project is to assist the city of Vinkovci in optimising waste management, removal and recycling plus to undertake immediate initiatives to protect the environment around the city's present refuse dump from polluting the ground water and surface water. The project will be a demo project for a cost-effective rehabilitation of the refuse dump as part of Croatia's efforts to approximate EU's environmental acquis. Additionally, the project will support the parallel activities in the Danish Environmental Support Programme concerning support for Croatia by preparing a national waste strategy, including relevant pilot projects.
Environmental effect (expected)	Among other things the project will lead to a better waste management in Vukovar County, improve the operations of the present refuse dump and protect the surrounding environment against illegal dumping, including pollution of surface water and ground water. In addition, the project will reduce the destruction of adjacent forests and wetlands and strengthen the possibilities for an increase in the use of waste recycling.
Grant	DKK 6,662,387
Total costs	DKK 6,662,387

Project title	Implementation of the Aarhus Convention in Croatia - assistance to tendering
File no.	129-0267
Project recipient	Department of the Environment, Croatia
Project manager	Steen Frederiksen, Rådgivende Ingeniør, F.R.I.
Project description	The project will invite tenders concerning the project "Assistance to Croatia in the implementation of the Aarhus Convention", i.e. selection and invitation of companies to fast-track tendering, preparation of assessment report and conducting of interviews.
Environmental effect (expected)	No immediate.
Grant	DKK 50,005
Total costs	DKK 50,005