€40 million provided for municipal water infrastructure in Turkey

July 10, 2002 -- The European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Union's long-term lending institution, is providing €40 million for water sector works in medium-sized Turkish municipalities, located primarily in the eastern part of Turkey (Central or Eastern Anatolia).

The EIB loan is signed under the Special Action Program (SAP) Mandate for Turkey (2001-2004), which is intended to assist Turkey to upgrade its infrastructure in preparation for the Customs Union with the EU.

Considering Turkey's status as an accession country, the EIB loan will as well contribute to meeting the "environmental acquis", in particular the Urban Wastewater Directive (UWWD).

The EIB loan is made available for 25 years to the Republic of Turkey for onlending to selected mid-sized Turkish municipalities. Eligible project components have been already identified in the cities of Sivas, Siirt and Batman.

Other cities are currently being appraised and will soon be included under the EIB loan. The EIB loan will be allocated following a Framework approach, designed in close collaboration with the German Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KfW) to meet the specific water sector needs of medium-sized municipalities in Turkey (having between 100,000 and 500,000 inhabitants).

The EIB loan covers investments in water supply (mainly leak detection programmes), wastewater collection and treatment (mainly rehabilitation and extension of collection networks and the construction of sewerage treatment plants) and stormwater drainage (construction of stormwater channels). The selected municipalities will be supported throughout the project preparation and implementation by external assistance, foreseen under the Framework approach defined by KfW and EIB.

This assistance will also include institutional support, designed to strengthen the operations of public water services in the selected municipalities.

Internet: http://www.eib.org