39
The News N° 26
FRom one conTinenT To anoTHeR
Information: Fax: +33 4 93 65 44 02 - E-mail:
The Regional Medjimurje County Water and
Sewerage Company (138 employees),
Med-
jimurske Vode d.o.o. (MV),
obtained
a loan from the
European Bank for
Reconstruction and Development
(EBRD)
in December 2012 to finance the
construction of new sewage drains and a
wastewater treatment facility for the munici-
pality of Novo Selo naDravi.
In order to ensure that the new investments
will be fully integrated and result in the
highest level of operational and financial effi-
ciency,
EBRD is also financinga Financial
and Operational Performance Improve-
ment Program (FOPIP) for technical
assistance.
The Program aims to:
n
Reduce thedischargeof untreatedwaste-
waters into the rivers in Medimurska
County;
n
Improve the financial and operational
performance of the Company and its
environmental and social management
practices;
n
Create a contractual relationshipbetween
theCity and theCompany and, if needed,
with other Shareholders.
The
BRL/International Office for Water
consortium has been selected by MV to
implement the FOPIP project that will last 24
months.
A contractwas signedon the 18thof Decem-
ber 2014 and the project officially started the
15
th
of February 2015.
A detailed assessment of the company
organization and performance was
implemented in the first 3 months of
the project where opportunities for
improvementwere identified.
In a second step, strategic actions were defi-
ned in close collaborationwithMVmanage-
ment and a Performance Improvement Pro-
gramwas elaborated.
4
Croatia
Medjimurske Vode d.o.o.:
Financial and Operational Performance Improvement Program (FOPIP)
CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE
IOWater
implemented, in partnership with
Ramboll, a technical assistance project for
capacity building of theMinistry for the Envi-
ronment of Macedonia, for the development
of legislation onwater.
The project, with a 2-year duration (2014 -
2015), was funded by the EuropeanUnion.
IOWater
carried out 2 of the 3 project activi-
ties concerning:
l
The improvement of the legislative frame-
work for water resources management in
Macedonia;
l
Thedevelopment of the first elementsof a
Basin Management Plan for the Vardar
River.
A thorough analysis of theMacedonian legis-
lation onwater management was carried out
to identify disparities with the obligations of
the various European water-related Direc-
tives.
Recommendations for amending existing
laws were proposed and themissing texts in
secondary legislationwere drafted.
Before their adoption by the Par-
liament, theMinistry for the Envi-
ronment required a regulatory
impact assessment of the propo-
sed new texts.
The four initial elements develo-
pedby theproject for
theVardar
River Basin Management
Plan include:
l
Establishment of an official
list of the BasinWater Bodies
with definition of their typo-
logy;
l
Characterization of the identifiedWater
Bodies;
l
Identification of pressures on Water
Bodies and identification of those at risk;
l
Inventory and mapping of protected
areas;
l
Development of a newMonitoring Plan.
One of the project priorities was the
training and capacity building of the
Ministry’swater department staff.
Many training courses of short durationwere
carried out, as well as training handbooks
presenting themethodologyusedat thediffe-
rent stages of the preparation of the Vardar
River BasinManagement Plan.
4
Macedonia
Institutional capacity building and improvement
of legislation for water resourcesmanagement
Final project meeting
