| Project Detail |
The so called Municipal Infrastructure Programme (MIP) has the objective to improve access of the population of six medium sized cities in Albania to safe drinking water and to provide adequate sanitation through sewerage disposal.
Background Building on the encouraging experiences of the previous interventions in Pogradec and in the on-going projects of MIP I and MIP II, SECO plans to continue its activities in the water sector and respond to the still important needs for water supply and waste water management infrastructure in Albania. MIP III / IV has the objective to improve access of the population of the cities of Berat-Kuçova, Gjirokastra, Kamza, Lushnja, Delvina and Librazhd (approximately 400000 inhabitants) to safe drinking water at socially acceptable and cost-covering tariffs and to provide adequate sanitation through sewerage disposal.
Objectives The overall objective of the Municipal Infrastructure Programme III/IV is to provide: Improved and sustainable access of the population in the programme areas to safe drinking water at socially acceptable and cost-covering tariffs and adequate sanitation through sewerage disposal - whilst performance of the utilities is improved. With reference to the preceding programmes, MIP III / IV will further increase the corporate development measures to strengthen performance, operation and maintenance of the utilities and will focus on the compliance with the drinking water resource protection regulations of Albania. The project foresees a substantial increase of the capacity of the operational water supply and sewerage systems through significant investments in infrastructure and equipment. Beneficiaries are the municipalities, the respective utilities, the Programme Coordination Unit at the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and the nearly 400000 inhabitants of the municipalities.
Medium-term outcomes Improved and sustainable access of the population in the programme areas to safe drinking water at socially acceptable and cost-covering tariffs. Ecological and adequate sanitation through sewerage disposal. Improved management capacities of the utilities.
Results Expected results: Well-performing utilities: Technically sustainable operations and maintenance cost coverage, additional connections to water supply, additional connections to improved sewerage disposal, improved collection efficiency, socially affordable service tariffs. Proper service provision and operation of the utilities: Increased average of water supply hours. Operational water supply / sewerage system: Water supply and sewerage infrastructure realized and in operation. Institutional strengthening: Analysis of infrastructure needs of utilities and identification of main areas of intervention, updated business and tariff adjustment plans, customer surveys for service improvement, reduction of non-revenue water, elaboration and implementation of an efficient maintenance concept.
Results from previous phases: The Municipal Infrastructure Programme I and II (MIP I / II) is currently in the implementation phase in the cities of Berat-Kucova, Fier, Gjirokastra, Kamza, Lezha, Lushnja, and Saranda. SECO is co-financing MIP I with a contribution of EUR 10.5 Mio of the total budget of EUR 31 Mio. SECOs support is targeted to the city of Lezha. MIP I / II applies an integrated approach of institutional and infrastructural measures that foster economic and technical performance of the utilities. Under MIP I / II infrastructure investments are subject to the achievement of predefined performance targets. The results of the applied performance based approach are so far very encouraging. The water utility of Lezha has since start of the program considerably improved its performance and has reached the defined milestones allowing for the execution of the investment measures. The successfully applied approach will also be deployed in the new programme MIP III / IV. |
