Swedish Company to Take Charge of Reconstruction of Kaliningrad's Water-Supply System - 13 September, 2002

Swedish company Sweco is to take charge of the project to repair Kaliningrad's water-supply and sewage systems. Yesterday, at the regional administration, Krister Andersson, a representative of the Swedish company, and Alexander Gorshenin, the head of the municipal water company Vodokanal, signed contracts allowing work to get underway.

In 1999 the regional administration, Kaliningrad's mayor and the Russian Government signed an agreement on borrowing money and acquiring non-returnable financial aid from international organisations totaling USD 56.7 million. The sources of funding are a loan from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), credit from the Northern Investment Bank, grants from the Swedish and Danish governments, and also resources from the regional and municipal budgets. The discounted loan from the EBRD is for USD 18 million, which is about 32% of total investment, and is to be repaid over 15 years, with the first payment in 4 years' time.

In accordance with the EBRD's rules, a tender for the project was held in which 28 firms took part. The tender was won by Sweco. The project design and construction of the treatment works will be overseen by Swedish company VIA Project, which also won this right in the tender.

An analysis of all incomplete structures involved in the project (including some whose construction was begun in the 1970s) will be carried out soon, after which construction companies and equipment suppliers will be invited to participate in tenders. This large-scale project, which envisages the reconstruction and completion of waterworks and sewage treatment plants, and the replacement and laying of a network of water pipes, will allow the quality and volume of drinking water supplied to Kaliningrad to be increased, and will also improve the environmental situation in the Baltic.