EBRD, EIB finance wastewater treatment plant in Skopje
A new wastewater treatment plant in Skopje will be financed through a €58 million loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, €68 million from the European Investment Bank, and a €10 million investment grant provided by the EIB’s Economic Resilience Initiative.
The capital of North Macedonia is currently one of the few capital cities in Europe without any substantial wastewater treatment. Instead, raw sewage is disposed of directly into the river Vardar, polluting the environment and affecting the livelihoods of people living downstream of the area, in North Macedonia and in Greece.
The new plant will treat 51.3 million m3 of domestic raw sewage per year and return the effluent safely to the receiving environment, significantly reducing pollution levels in the Vardar river and improving ecosystems and the wellbeing of people. The plant will cover nine of the ten municipalities that constitute Skopje and have a capacity for 650,000 people, accounting for the expected increase in population.
