Office for South East Europe European Commission / World Bank

Regional Infrastructure Projects - Status as of November 2003

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The attached tables provide an overview of the ongoing regional infrastructure projects which are being monitored by the Infrastructure Steering Group (ISG). The current list comprises some 53 projects, with a total cost of €4.01 billion (see attachment)¹. These 53 projects have financing secured or under preparation with the involvement of bilateral donors or international financial institutions, and were selected according to the agreed criteria of: technical, economical and environmental feasibility; submission by two or more countries of the region; and a marked regional character.

The breakdown of the 53 projects totaling €4.0bn (€200 million more than reported in May 2003) is as follows:

Albania = €458.72 mn, BiH = €347.50 mn, Bulgaria = €650.00 mn, Croatia = €590.84 mn, fYR Macedonia = €173.5 mn, Romania = €857.94 mn, Serbia and Montenegro €663.05 mn, Kosovo (Serbia and Montenegro) = €55.82 mn, Moldova = €36.70 mn, Regional Projects = €177.68 mn.

The selection of projects by the Infrastructure Steering Group is an ongoing process. There may be projects currently on the list which do not materialize and others which will appear on the list at a later date. Inclusion of new projects on the list will reflect progress made in securing financing for infrastructure projects promoting regional objectives in the transport, energy and environmental sector and meeting the agreed criteria of technical, economical and environmental feasibility.

A breakdown by sector (see attachment) shows that the most heavily invested sector is transport (particularly road infrastructure) which represents 68% of the overall cost, equivalent to some €2.74 billion, and spread between 37 different projects. The energy sector comes second, with a cost of €0.77 billion (20%) for five electricity projects, and the water and environment sector comes last with five projects and a total cost of €0.33 billion (8%). A further 4 % of the projects are cross-border or trade facilitation projects for a total cost of euro €0.16 billion or 6 projects.

According to latest reporting by lead agencies, substantial progress has been made in getting projects started. The number of projects expected to have started by the end of November 2003 has more than doubled compared to December 2001 and amounts to 36 projects or €2.6 billion of investments (65% of the total financing). Three of these projects have been completed. A further 4 projects are expected to start before the end of 2003.

At the next meeting of the ISG, a number of new projects submitted by lead agencies will be considered for inclusion in the list of ongoing regional infrastructure projects.

Attachment:

Projects Summary and the List of Regional Infrastructure Projects (9 pages, pdf, 222 KB)

¹ The list of projects has mainly been established by merging and consolidating the list of Quick Start infrastructure projects agreed at the Regional Funding Conference held in Brussels in March 2000 in support of the Stability Pact, and the list of regional infrastructure projects presented by the Chairman of the Infrastructure Steering Group at the second Regional Conference held in Bucharest in October 2001. Following the ISG meeting of November 21, 2002 five new projects were included on the list (Project numbers: 411014, 413003, 514001, 714009, 721004). Two further projects have been included in November 2003, which are still subject to final approval by all members of the ISG (Project numbers 111014 and 413001)