50% of Tap Water in Bulgaria Below EU Standards

As little as 50% of the drinking water supplied to households in Bulgaria meets EU requirements, according to Markus Repnik, World Bank Resident Representative in Bulgaria.

Repnik attended Thursday a contract signing ceremony for the preparation of general regional plans in the water supply and sewerage (WSS) sector in Bulgaria.

The event was also attended by Lilyana Pavlova, Minister of Regional Development and Public Works, and her deputy Dobromir Simidchiev, who is in charge of the WSS sector.

"General plans in the WSS sector will provide data about the actual condition of water supply and sewerage networks in all Bulgarian regions. Such a study is being conducted for the first time in our country and will indicate the amount of investments that will be necessary for the overhaul of the infrastructure," Pavlova stated.

She explained that the Regional Development Ministry had worked for two years and a half in order to sign the contracts with the consulting firms which were to present their complete analyses within 18 months.

Simidchiev told journalists that the three consultancies tasked with preparing the analyses would present preliminary data about the approximate cost of improving the condition of the WSS network in the summer of 2012.

He said that the initial calculations would enable Bulgaria to submit these projects for EU funding under the next programming period 2014-2020.

Pavlova made it clear that if the EU money proved insufficient, Bulgaria would tap loans and proceeds from the national budget.

The three consulting firms which were selected among a total of 87 applicants will receive a total of EUR 12.3 M for the preparation of the plans.

Lot 1, which includes the districts of Burgas, Varna, Dobrich, Shumen, Targovishte, Sliven, Yambol and Stara Zagora, was assigned to Egis Infrastructure for the price of EUR 2 M, VAT icluded.

Lot 2, which includes the districts of Veliko Tarnovo, Gabrovo, Razgrad, Ruse, Silistra, Kardzhali, Haskovo, Pazardzhik, Plovdiv and Smolyan, was assigned to a consortium led by French Seureca for the price of BGN 3 M, VAT included.

Lot 3, which includes the districts of Vidin, Montana, Vratsa, Pleven, Lovetch, Sofia district, Pernik, Kyustendil and Blagoevgrad, was assigned to a consortium led by Danish Niras for the price of BGN 4.5 M, VAT included.

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