4 TH Conference of the Water Directors of

4 TH Conference of the Water Directors of the Euro-Med & Southeastern European countries Relevancy of the financial resources in addressing main sector issues. EIB contribution Bled, 10 – 11 December 2007 José Frade, European Investment Bank

Long catalogue of issues in the region’s water sector Ø Global: water scarcity, droughts & floods, impact of climate change (CC), desertification, population growth Ø Social: poverty, low affordability, gender inequity, lack of public awareness & education Ø Environmental: pollution and degradation Ø Political: poor governance & political support, low revenues Ø Managerial: poor performance of systems & allocation of water resources, fragmentation of water management Ü WILL THE CATALOGUE BE THE SAME IN THE YEAR 2020?

Key actions & solutions to address the issues Ø Global: plan & design projects to adapt to CC, invest on prevention (not reconstruction), allocate & manage water resources correctly, apply IWRM as a tool (not an objective) Ø Social: use better (target) grants & blend it with other funds, maximise efficiency to minimize costs & tariffs Ø Environmental: prioritise hot spots, invest with support of grants & loans to ensure cost recovery at Wtp levels (afford. ) Ø Political: design and set institutions that could perform well, stop keeping tariffs as a political hostage – focus on efficiency Ø Managerial: give utilities all the resources required, reward performance & make it accountable (stop chicken & egg loop)

How can financial resources help Ø Global: support technical assistance to ensure proper plan & design of investment + allocation & management of resources Ø Social: donors should: i) coordinate to ensure better use of grants & blending with other funds; ii) fund water efficiency Ø Environmental: fund hot spots with the right blending of funds Ø Political: support TA for institutional restructuring, redesign of utilities and capacity building – if necessary through PPPs Ø Managerial: support TA for reorganisation, project preparation and implementation ensuring transfer of know-how Ü HOW COULD THIS CONFERENCE ENDORSE AND INTERNALISE IT?

The EIB contribution Ø TA available under FEMIP (www. eib. org/med/index. htm) to support objectives mentioned before. In-house expertise added value Ø The EIB has been and is keen in coordinating better with other donors on best use of TA and blending of funds Ø Strong support and involvement in Horizon 2020: recent study identified 77% of environmental investment needs for wastewater collection and treatment in the MED region Ø EIB is considering a pro-active support to water efficiency: i) resource allocation efficiency; ii) utility efficiency; iii) system efficiency; iv) user consumption efficiency (4 efficiency drivers) Ü WHAT ELSE WOULD YOU LIKE TO SUGGEST?

A FEW DATA ON EIB SUPPORT TO WATER SECTOR Ø § § § FEMIP Portfolio for TA to water & ww (+ waste): 2003 => 14 contracts (39% of total n°) for 5. 2 M € (30%) 2004 => 9 contracts (28% of total n°) for 4. 4 M € (20%) 2005 => 18 contracts* (72% of total n°) for 21 M € (75%) * include 8 actions identified to be contracted Ø Horizon 2020 – identified projects for possible support: § Wastewater: 24 (56% of total) amounting to 1. 6 bn € (77%) Ø EIB lending in the water sector in the Partner Countries:

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