The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), under the Green Cities project, intends to provide Spetskomuntrans Communal Enterprise with a loan of EUR 28.5 million to finance the project for the rehabilitation and modernization of solid waste infrastructure in the city of Khmelnytsky, valued at EUR 36.5 million
According to information on the bank’s website, the decision on the project can be made on July 8, 2020. Now the project is under consideration.
The loan split into several tranches co-financed by up to EUR 5 million investment grant from the EU Neighborhood Investment Platform and up to EUR 3 million local contribution.
The project includes two phases. The phase I of the Project will address the city’s urgent investment needs with respect to the rehabilitation of the existing landfill, the construction of a new engineered sanitary landfill in compliance with the EU standards adjacent to the old one, the acquisition of new landfill equipment to ensure sustainable operation of the new landfill and improvements of the solid waste collection and transportation systems, co-financed from the city budget.
The phase II of the project includes the construction of a new material recovery facility for non-organic waste and a separate composting facility for pre-sorted organic waste. The EBRD said that this will reduce the share of solid waste going to the landfill.
Spetskomuntrans Communal Enterprise is responsible for the collection, treatment and disposal of municipal solid waste in Khmelnytsky. The company has contracts with more than 92,000 households and almost 3,000 commercial and public organizations for waste removal and disposal. The company is also an operator of the existing landfill located in the territory of the city.
EBRD, EUR, KHMELNYTSKY, LOAN, MLN
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has provided a four-year loan of EUR7.5 million to Bank Lviv for lending to small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) under the EU4Business program, Anton Usov, the EBRD senior adviser on external affairs, has said.
“Small and medium-sized enterprises in western Ukraine will benefit from a new loan of up to EUR7.5 million to Bank Lviv provided under the EBRD EU4Business credit line. The loan will be available for disbursement in the Ukrainian hryvnia, which will protect Bank Lviv’s borrowers from foreign currency-related risks, and offer long maturities,” the EBRD noted.
“The funds are provided in the context of the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) between the European Union (EU) and Ukraine. EU grants will be offered as investment incentives to eligible enterprises to reduce the cost of their capital expenditure on upgrades of technology and production processes to comply with EU standards and regulations,” it said on its website.
Bank Lviv is a regional bank providing banking services to SMEs and private clients across western Ukraine. It is well established in Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Lutsk, Rivne, Ternopil and Uzhgorod regions, as well as Kyiv.
The EBRD is a leading institutional investor in Ukraine and to date has committed more than EUR14.54 billion in over 460 projects to the country.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky has emphasized that the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and other financial organizations were ready to help Ukraine amid the coronavirus pandemic. “Yesterday I had a conversation with IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva. Our international financial partners, including the IMF, the World Bank, the EBRD assured us of their readiness to support and help Ukraine,” he said in an appeal to Ukrainians on Monday, March 23.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), as part of the Green Cities program, intends to provide Kyivteploenergo with a loan of EUR 140 million for the modernization of the central heating infrastructure, according to information on the bank’s website.
The project, the approval of which is scheduled for May 27, will be aimed at ensuring the sustainable and efficient operation of Kyiv combined heat and power plants (CHPP) and boiler houses, improving the reliability and quality of heat supply and hot water supply.
As reported, last year, Kyivteploenergo announced its intention to attract a EBRD loan in the amount of EUR 140 million with a three-year grace period to modernize the municipal heating system. At that time, three main areas of the project were reported: closing 45 small boiler houses (out of 200 boiler houses the company has), replacing a condensing heat exchanger at the small block of CHPP-5, and installing new generating capacities at CHPP-6.
The EBRD is the largest international financial investor in Ukraine. Since the beginning of its activity in the country in 1993, the bank has financed 445 projects for a total amount of almost EUR 14.6 billion.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the European Union (EU) have agreed a new EUR 50 million programme of financial guarantees aimed at scaling up investment in renewable energy in Ukraine and in the EU’s Southern Neighbourhood with a particular focus on Jordan, Lebanon and Tunisia, the bank has said in a press release.
Under the new programme, the EBRD will provide guarantees to lenders such as local commercial banks, which will allow them to provide financing to projects alongside EBRD loans. The guarantee is expected to help generate total investments of up to EUR 500 million.
This is the first agreement during the bank’s cooperation with the EU through the External Investment Plan (EIP) in the EU neighbourhood regions.
“We’re delighted to partner with the EU for such an urgent cause as climate action. Our lending combined with the EU’s financial instruments encourages more participation of the private sector in investments which are very much needed to face the global challenges of the future, including a more sustainable development model,” EBRD Vice President, Policy and Partnerships Pierre Heilbronn said.
European Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Olivér Várhelyi added that the EU is convinced the guarantee provides sufficient risk cover to attract major private sector investment in countries where not enough such financing is available.
According to the report, through the EIP, to date the EU has allocated EUR 4.5 billion in public funds to leverage EUR 44 billion in public and private investment for development in countries neighbouring the EU and in Africa.
Тhe European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and Sweden have issued funds for an information campaign to promote a solid waste treatment project in Lviv, for which the EBRD together with environmental funds allocated EUR35 million. “In Ukraine, more than 95% of solid waste is brought to landfills, 99% of which do not meet EU standards and carry environmental, safety and health risks. In Sweden, in 2018 less than 1% of solid waste was brought to landfills, and more than 99% was recycled,” Ambassador of Sweden Tobias Thyberg said during the official launch of the program in Kyiv.
Within the framework of the project, which is designed for three years, a number of Internet resources will be created, as well as events with mass media, the public and non-governmental organizations will be carried out. The communications agency Noblet Media CIS is implementing the project, and its cost is not disclosed.
“Today, garbage is an element of politics. I would like this issue to be outside of politics,” Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovy said.
According to him, after setting fire to the landfill in the Velyki Hrybovychi village, the city has been suffering a garbage blockade for almost two years, and the EBRD and other European partners came to the rescue first. The mayor noted that the city is very interested in the implementation of this project, since it annually has to spend UAH 300 million on garbage removal.
