Summary Description: The City of Sarajevo (population 0.45 million) is the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the largest city in the country. The Canton of Sarajevo is the regional administrative district surrounding the City of Sarajevo, and has a total population of 0.7 million. The water supply system for the City of Sarajevo is a combination of gravity and pump systems. Main springs come from the underground accumulation beneath the Sarajevo field and represent some 90 per cent of the overall water supply. The total amount of available water is approximately 3,500 litres per second, which is sufficient for the City of Sarajevo. The Canton has requested the EBRD to assist its efforts for the preparation and financing of the urban water and waste water sectors. The project is expected to shape into a senior loan of up to €30 million to the Company managing the water systems to finance the priority investments in the water and sewerage networks in the Canton of Sarajevo. Justification and purpose of the TC: The project’s objective is to assist the Canton authorities and the Company management to implement the investment plan in the amount of €30 million over a three year period (roughly €10 million per year). The investment plan’s final objectives are to target reduction of losses, through replacement of the water and sewerage networks, and rehabilitation of pumps and storage facilities; and to foster a sustainable management of operations at the Company level. This project involves an effective cost reduction short-term investment programme, designed on the basis of a long-term development plan. The long-term plan should outline the general development direction of the Canton, and determine the basic policies and parameters, which will lead to identifying cost reduction improvements within budget constraints.
In summary, the main tasks to be carried out include financial assessment (preparation of an analysis of the financial position and prospects of the Company; institutional and legal assessment of the present legal status of the Company and the institutional framework in which it operates; operational efficiency assessment (review of the financial and operational efficiency of the Company, and identification of areas for cost saving); demand and affordability assessment (collection and review of socio-economic data of relevance to the project, for a period of three to five years of historical data); technical evaluation of municipal service infrastructure (evaluation of current technical quality, and quality of service provision); and financial analysis, project implementation plan and environmental assessment.