The project is funded by the EU Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) and aims at the elaboration of a national water tariff study for developing economic instruments for a balanced water price system and the management of financially sustainable water investment projects.
Nowadays there are many responsible institutions in the water sector covering different aspects related to water supply, collection and wastewater treatment in the Republic of Macedonia.. The application of the current tariff system is not adequate and does not provide an efficient tariff collection rate. The existing problems in the system result in a lack of available resources for the operation and future development of wastewater infrastructure in the country. To alleviate this, the “water price” needs to be redefined and understood as being “the unit or overall amount to be paid by users for all of the services that they receive in terms of water, including the protection of the environment (wastewater treatment)”.
In connection with this, a consortium composed by EPTISA and the Macedonian company Geing has recently been awarded with a new contract in Macedonia. The project, funded by the European Union with an overall budget of 785,000 Euro, and managed by the Central Financing and Contracting Department (CFCD), aims at developing economic instruments for a balanced water price system and the management of financially sustainable water investment projects in the country.
In the next fifteen months, a team of experts from EPTISA and Geing will provide technical support in the establishment of economic instruments following the “polluter pays principle” in the water sector. More specifically, the project will prepare and implement a stakeholders’ consultation plan, will develop economic instruments for an effective and affordable cost recovery in the water sector, and will eventually formulate a water tariff methodology and a new structure of the water tariffs. For reasons of cost and political acceptability, the introduction of this new pricing system will have to be gradual. Moreover, social considerations will be taken into account.
EPTISA has been working in Macedonia since 2005 and, as a result of the growing activities in the country, a subsidiary company will be established in Skopje by mid-2013. This project will be the first contract directly managed from this new local office.
For more information about this project, please contact EPTISA Regional Office for Southeast Europe at eptisasee@eptisa.com.