EU ASSISTANCE TO KOSOVO Improving the Environment

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BUILDING A FUNCTIONAL AND CLEAN INFRASTUCTURE

A key desire of Kosovo’s¹ citizens is the simple wish for a normal life. That means peace, order, education and jobs. But it also means basic services and the infrastructure that ensures them. This includes services like:

• A reliable and affordable supply of clean water • Healthy disposal of waste water and sewage • Disposal of municipal waste (garbage) • Reliable supplies of electricity and heating

It also means ensuring a clean and pleasant environment-the sort of environment where citizens can enjoy normal lives and leisure time. With respect to all basic services, the EU has helped Kosovo-and continues to help.

One issue that Kosovans are all too familiar with is the lack of 24-hour water supplies, even in big cities. Water supply is a matter of vital interest from the standpoint not only of citizens’ convenience, but also of public health. And the situation in Kosovo has been far from ideal, for four reasons:

• First, water-treatment plants are too few and don’t have enough capacity • Second, existing water supply networks are in a poor state leading to losses-and increased risks of contamination • Third, those networks aren’t sufficient even for the areas they currently serve • Fourth, the networks need to be extended to serve areas at present without water supply

So the water sector has been a high priority for the EU in Kosovo. In all, the EU has invested around €60 million to date, with funds used to refurbish treatment plants and pumping stations, install water meters, rehabilitate and extend networks and, in the process, improve water quality.

¹Under UNSCR 1244/1999

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IMPROVING WATER QUALITY, REDUCING LOSSES

To take one example, the EU is investing €2 million in Pristina to replace 2 km of aging water pipes. Due to finish in 2011, the project will not only improve water quality and reduce losses of a scarce resource. It will also greatly increase capacity: the new pipes are one metre in diameter-almost twice as wide as those they replace-which will mean improved water access for an estimated 70% of the capital city.

Mitrovica and its neighbours are also benefitting. The EU has provided €13 million towards expanding and upgrading Mitrovica’s water treatment plant, which processes water from the nearby lake and serves four municipalities. Processing capacity more than doubled, rising from 450 to 1,000 litres per second. This will improve access for 250,000 people, providing water for 12-18 hours a day, а big improvement, given that one of the municipalities had been enjoying supplies for as little as four hours! And, with the upgrade complete, work on distribution networks is next on the agenda.

But improving the situation is not just a question of upgrading plants and networks. You also need the right regulatory and management system, to ensure services are provided to an acceptable standard and at fair prices. That’s why the EU has also been providing expert help for the work of Kosovo’s central and regulatory offices in this sector, including:

• Helping to put in place a new tariff system • Advising on formulation and assessment of asset and investment plans • Improving regulators’ capacity to monitor the activities of the water companies to ensure they comply with regulations • Improving bill collection for waste and water

WASTE WATER: A SUITABLE CASE FOR TREATMENTProper disposal of waste water is equally vital for public health. It’s also a matter of increasing concern in Kosovo, where lack of arrangements for such disposal means that rivers and groundwater sources are becoming more and more compromised by sewage. At the same time, waste water treatment plants (WWTPs) are very expensive projects.

Repairing the system

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WASTE WATER DISPOSAL IS VITAL FOR PUBLIC HEALTH

One such project is a pilot WWTP in Skenderaj/Srbica. Completed in 2007, this was prevented from operating for some time by property issues: these have now been resolved, however, and start-up should come in March 2011.

The EU is taking measures to address the problem of water treatment, in both the short and the tong term.

At the same time, the EU is currently building several sewage networks involving complete treatment before discharge. Four projects, worth a total of €3 million, are underway at present, serving:

• The town of Junik • Kuk/Kukovce and Kosavë/Kosavce villages (Dragash/Dragaš municipality) • Skivjan/Skivjane village (Gjakovë/Ðakovica municipality) • Medvec/Medvece and Vrellë/Vrelo villages (Lipjan/Lipljan municipality)

And the EU is looking ahead, too: it has initiated a water strategy covering the whole of Kosovo to map out the need for WWTPs, drinking water treatment plants, water supply networks, etc. Heavy investment is expected eventually in state-of-the-art facilities like the one at Skenderaj/Srbica-which will be good for Kosovo’s rivers, its water supplies, and its citizens.

A PROGRAMME TO CLOSE UNCONTAINED DUMPSITESWater supply and waste water management are not the only problems with public health implications that the EU has helped address. Another is municipal waste disposal.

Open and uncontained rubbish dumps have been a major source of health problems, especially for those living near them. The waste is not separated and all kinds of household and industrial waste have been dumped in them, posing air, soil and groundwater pollution problems. Frequent spontaneous fires at the dumps also mean a lot of smoke. And disadvantaged people often scavenge the sites for recyclables, risking harm from toxic pollutants.

Mapping out the need for treatment plants.

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CLEARING UP AND FILLING IN

The EU has been making efforts to remedy this situation for some time.

Years ago, it helped to build six regional landfills to which municipal cleaning companies were to bring the waste they collected, paying a fee to dump it there. But this was not enough. With households and businesses slow to pay collection fees, the municipal utilities have preferred to continue dumping their rubbish free of charge-and illegally-on the existing municipal rubbish-tips.

That’s why the EU has recently been supporting a programme to close eight uncontrolled municipal dumpsites. At a cost of €3 million of EU money, this has involved filling the dumps with clay and planting them with grass, trees and bushes. Started in March 2010, this should be finished by spring 2011, and some will be transformed into municipal parks.

As always, EU efforts are intertwined with local actions. The Ministry of Environment has made it clear to the municipal companies that it will crack down on illegal dumping, imposing fines. And the companies themselves will need to tighten up on rubbish collection fees. The result will be a more orderly and cleaner Kosovo.

ROADS AND BRIDGES: GETTING THEREAnd because no community can survive these days without access by road, the EU has stepped in there too. Over the years it has: • Reconstructed some 300 km of main roads, enabling better links for people and goods alike, both between cities, and indeed with neighbouring FYROM, Montenegro and Serbia • Reconstructed about 20 bridges, including 17 bridges on the M2, which links Kosovo with FYROM. These bridges were in such poor condition they were a serious risk to the heavy traffic flow on this primary access route into and out of Kosovo

• Reconstructed some 50 km of smaller regional and local roads, which are also important. Skorobishtë/Skorobište, near Prizren, is a case in point. The village used to be practically cut off during the autumn and winter period. When the new road was opened its mayor declared: “thanks to the EU, the dream of the villagers has come true”

Such works also generate employment and upgrade skills, as locals learn to work to the relevant European construction and safety standards.

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ENERGIZING KOSOVO

Energy is another essential field in which the EU has supported Kosovo: over the last decade it has spent well over €400 million.

Kosovans won’t need reminding how unreliable the power system was after the 1999 conflict-or of the EU’s role in repairing the damage and arranging emergency imports to tide Kosovo over the following winter.

Reconstruction and modernization takes time, however, and the process of upgrading plants and investment in transmission lines continued long after 2000.

Work on upgrading Kosovo’s energy infrastructure continues-as does EU support.

For instance, the EU recently picked up €17 million of the €20 million cost of opening a new mine at Siboc/Sibovac South-West, which will replace the soon to be depleted existing coal mine. That increased the output 50%, heading off what would otherwise have been a shortage at Kosovo’s main power-station-and resultant power cuts-after 2010/11.

The EU has also recently been helping to eliminate “bottlenecks” in Kosovo’s transmission system-weak points in both the west and the east of Kosovo where inadequate capacity mean transmission lines and transformer stations easily become overloaded.

That was dramatized in 2007, when a breakdown in Bulgaria caused power cuts all over Kosovo. The EU has since funded construction of the new substation in Ferizaj/Uroševac (€6 million) and significant upgrading of a substation in Prizren, further in the south (€11 million)-with the latter including IT systems vital to managing energy data.

The EU has spent well over € 400 million in

the energy field

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ENERGY EFFICIENCY REDUCES DEMAND

Besides long-range power transmission, the EU has been attending to local provision of heating. Mitrovica and its heating utility Termomit are a case in point. An EU-backed project has refurbished and re-equipped Termomit’s heating plant-raising its capacity from 9.3 MW to 38 MW-and extended the heating network to the southern part of the town.

The investment allows Termomit to produce heat more efficiently and supply it to over 2,000 households and to numerous businesses and public buildings, which has improved the life of Mitrovica’s citizens.

Finally, the EU has been focusing on energy efficiency. Wasteful use of energy, encouraged by artificially low prices in the past, has been one cause of shortages. So the EU has carried out a number of projects to promote better use of energy.

One project is €1.3 million investment in cost-effective energy efficiency measures in four schools and one hospital-measures such as installing solar water heaters, replacing windows and doors, and using efficient heating systems.

These, the EU hopes, will not only save money for the institutions in question, but also show others what can be achieved. To get the message through, the EU has also funded a media campaign to promote energy efficiency.

It has also financed the first ever training courses in Kosovo to qualify energy auditors-that is, specialists in identifying energy efficiency measures.

Raising awareness about energy efficiency measures

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DIVERSIFYING RURAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

EMPOWERING CIVIL SOCIETYWhile doing its bit to ensure the people of Kosovo have water, electricity and heat, the EU is also helping with measures to ensure they have a pleasant environment-and to enhance opportunities to earn a livelihood in ways that keep it pleasant. For instance, the EU has backed a project worth almost €3 million designed to increase the contribution of forestry and agriculture to diversifying employment and income opportunities in rural areas. With its extensive woodlands and diverse wildlife, Kosovo has considerable potential for forestry and for hunting and “green” tourism. But this potential needs to be conserved and managed. Drawing on EU experience, this project involves:

• Measures to improve management of national parks, biodiversity and forest fire prevention • Establishment of a natural forest road network • Plans and public awareness guidelines to combat illegal logging and • Capacity building measures to the forest administration and private forest owners

Vital too are environmental initiatives which, while smaller in financial terms, work by mobilizing one of Kosovo’s key resources, the initiative of its citizens, by empowering “civil society”. By means of training and a little financial help, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are:

• Encouraged to work together with each other, with communities and with local and state authorities • Informed of international best practice • Trained in conducting campaigns to raise awareness on environmental

issues and preparing educational materials; and, last but not least • Shown how to contribute to environmental policy making

Two such projects are underway at present, one designed to promote biodiversity (“EKOsovo”) and one that strengthens the role of Kosovo’s Ecologists and Farmers Association in protecting the environment and, in particular, in promoting waste recycling and composting. Worth €126,000 and €129,000 respectively, the projects are over 90% EU-funded. One more proof of the EU’s commitment to a better Kosovo: cleaner, greener, healthier and with all the basic services!

The EU is working with citizens to provide

a cleaner, greener Kosovo

"This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European Union. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of European Commission Liaison Office to Kosovo and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union."

CONTACTEuropean Commission Liaison Office to Kosovo

A. Kosovo Street 1 (P.O. Box 331)Pristina, KOSOVO

T. +381 38 51 31 200 F. +381 38 51 31 304

E. delegation-kosovo@ec.europa.eu

W. www.delprn.ec.europa.eu