The Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBIH) suffers from serious negative impacts on public health and the environment from underdeveloped services in the sector of urban water and wastewater. Currently, 60 % of the population has access to a public water supply, 33 % to a sanitation system and 3 % are connected to a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP).
Poor infrastructure, deficient operation of wastewater facilities in municipalities, and undesirable interconnection between water systems leave public water supplies and bathing waters exposed to contamination, which can spread widely, from discharges of untreated water.
The project, valued at EUR 30 million, encompasses the rehabilitation and construction of water and wastewater infrastructure of 5 municipalities, namely: Velika Kladusa, Orasje, Bosanski Petrovac, Posusje and Siroki Brijeg. The projects in these 5 municipalities are the most advanced part of a large investment programme (FBiH Water and Sanitation Project) for the water and wastewater sector in FBIH that will result in an improvement and expansion of water supply and sewerage systems and the construction of WWTPs with a total investment of EUR 121.3 million co-financed by an IFI loan of EUR 60 million (WBIF are supporting the FBIH programme with two related grants awards, see TA3-BIH-ENV-02 and WB9-BIH-ENV-03; a similar programme with WBIF support runs in Republika Srpska).
A EUR 17 million grant, of which EUR 5 million for BiH, was awarded in 2009 through EU's IPF Municipal Window programme (now incorporated into the WBIF) for the construction and upgrading of water and wastewater infrastructure in the six municipalities in BiH, for which feasibility studies had been prepared under the EC Environmental Project Preparation Facility. Additional grants were provided through the EU IPA programme and the Swedish agency SIDA. Construction started in 2012 in two municipalities with loan financing and in 2014 the construction also financed by the grant has been ongoing in 5 municipalities. In 2014, the Commission decided not to extend the contractual deadline of 31/12/2015 for the grant, so the project segment financed by the grant was reduced to cover the work contracts to be completed within that deadline. This project segment with a cost of EUR 2 899 758 was completed at the end of 2015.
The benefits of the project included protecting public health and the environment from water pollution, maintaining a balanced development of water supply and sanitation as well as safeguarding the financial and operational viability of the water companies. Specific benefits can be summarised:
The total population benefiting from the improvement in water and wastewater services in the six municipalities is 85,000.