World Bank

Activities

The World Bank uses two main instruments for its assistance to overall Water resources management in SEE: IBRD/IDA lending and the Joint World Bank/UN Global Environment Facility grant assistance. The World Bank has lent more than $363 million to water treatment and solid waste projects in South East Europe. Water treatment accounts for the vast majority of lending, with $337.3 million being spent on 10 different projects, compared to the remaining $25.8 million being spent on 2 solid waste projects. GEF grant assistance, managed by the Bank, is currently around $18 million with some $70 million in the pipeline.

Broadly speaking, IBRD lending concentrates on coastal water management investment projects whereas GEF assistance mainly concentrates on transboundary water bodies and wetland restoration. Active IBRD loans fund urban and rural water supply (pdf) projects (with some wastewater components) in Albania, Bosnia, Croatia and Romania. To date, support for broad hazards risk mitigation investments and management instruments has been limited to Romania.

Concerning the GEF-funded Black Sea/Danube Basin Strategic Partnership Program, two operations are ongoing, one in wetland restoration (for Bulgaria) and one in agricultural pollution reduction (for Romania); several others are under preparation such as support to transboundary lake management in the case of Lake Ohrid, Lake Skadar and the Neretva River.

The World Bank is a member of the DABLAS and REReP initiatives. GEF actively supports the implementation of the Mediterranean Action Plan.

Criteria for funding and the funding process

The World Bank’s lending and non-lending activities in water resources management have to take into account the Water Resource Management Strategy (2004) and Water Supply and Sanitation program (2004). Good water resources management is considered as crucial for a country’s economic and social development. The World Bank Group has published a two–volume report on Water Resources Management in South East Europe (pdf), which provides a comprehensive overview of regional and country specific issues and directions.