Orhei: Continuous Supply of Quality Water Thanks to the World Bank

Pilot Water Supply and Sanitation Project

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"As of December 2006, for the first time the entire town of Orhei enjoys a 24 hours supply of quality potable water", the General Mayor of Orhei, Ion Stratulat, told the audience during a press tour organized in Orhei by the World Bank Country Office in Moldova. The total investment for the rehabilitation of water supply and sanitation network in Orhei is USD 2.4 million and was financed by a World Bank credit.

According to Mr. Stratulat, any activity implemented with support from the World Bank and other international financial institutions produces great benefits for Moldova and leads to improvement of social infrastructure and better welfare. If at the project start in 2004 the population of Orhei was supplied with water just several hours per day, towards the end of 2007 water is being supplied almost uninterruptedly, including through about 16% of rehabilitated nets and approximately 6 km of newly constructed networks in the new private residential areas.

The Director of ‘Apa-Canal’ Orhei (water and sewerage utility), Mr. Mihai Chiperi, told the media that until now 28.4 km of water supply and 2.1 km of sewerage networks were rehabilitated.

Of the USD 2.45 million offered by WB were procured excavators, a flushing machine, a mobile repair shop, power generators, an asphalt cutter, a welding machine, leakage detection equipment, pumps for water supply and sewerage pumping stations. Pumping stations facilities were renovated too.

During the implementation of the pilot project in Orhei a different strategy was promoted as compared to the other towns, namely, works were executed in-house. Orhei residents contributed too to the project with about MDL 300,000. The approach above allowed additional rehabilitation and new construction of 15,912 m of water supply networks during 2006 and 2007.

Along with the World Bank credit, the Orhei ‘Apa-Canal’ will invest in 2008 from its own budget additional MDL 680,000, Mr. Chiperi told, for the rehabilitation of another 13.5 km of water supply networks using the materials purchased under the WB credit.

Some neighborhoods, as for example Lupoaica, did not enjoy water supply since 1992. During the implementation of the project a new ‘sandwich’ type pumping station was installed amounting to MDL 471,000. It services the entire neighborhood representing 8% of the total population of Orhei, Mr. Ion Burduja, Technical Director of the utility told.

Thus, the Orhei water supply and sanitation systems operated for the last 35-40 years and reaching a very poor condition were retrofitted into a well performing and quality water supply system, the old cast-iron and steel pipes being replaced with new polyester, polyethylene and PVC pipes used hereinafter for creation of the new system.

As a result of project implementation 90% of the 30,000 population of Orhei benefit from implementation of the project, the level of metering increasing from 2% to 90%.

The utility registered a number of positive outcomes thanks to the implementation of the project. In particular, the utility: recovered its accounts receivables by improving collections from water consumers, has registered up to 30% in energy savings, reduced the number of pipes breaks and water losses, increased the level of billing, all above contributing to a better welfare. If in 2004 the number of consumers who benefited of water supply was 10,000, nowadays the number exceeds 11,000 consumers.

The project also contributed to rehabilitation of the water intake in the village of Jeloboc, which is now the sole source of highest quality water supply and thereby does not need treatment, only hygienic cleaning. Moreover, the local government indicated that the ‘Jeloboc’ spring has a high water debit of about 72.2 liters per second. Provided that the surplus would not flow into Raut, the remaining unused water would be enough under current conditions to supply a similar number of consumers as it does today.

Besides that Orhei ‘Apa-Canal’ provides water to about 90% of Orhei residents, it also supplies piped water to a number of villages closed to the town and hopes to spread its service in the future as to cover all the villages in the region. Presently, the price for one cubic meter is MDL 7.5 for water and MDL 1.5 for sewerage.

However, a subject of concern for Orhei local government today is the extension of the sewerage network which currently covers only 54% of population, as well as the waste water treatment plant. Mayor Ion Stratulat stated that currently the local government and the Orhei Apa-Canal are preparing a new project for construction of a new waste water treatment plant, the process staying with land attribution. The Mayor expressed the wish that this new project could be also financed by the World Bank.

The Pilot Water Supply and Sanitation Project is being implemented within the 2003-2007 period. Out of 34 water and sewerage utilities 5 were selected based on competitive criteria. These are Orhei, Cahul, Stefan-Voda, Soroca and Balti, as well as the village of Corjova (in the rayon of Criuleni) within the rural component.

The scope of the project is to enhance the welfare of the population living in some of the poorest rural areas and medium-sized towns and cities by improving the quality, efficiency and sustainability of water supply and sanitation services.

Sandu Ghidirim, Operations Officer responsible for the sector at the World Bank Office in Chisinau, indicated that because this is a pilot project, the selection of the five beneficiaries (done together with the government) was based upon technical and financial condition of utilities at the time, as identified by a series of pre- and feasibility studies. As a result of these analyses and according to criteria set forth, those utilities were selected, which operated in a satisfactory manner and proved able to reimburse the credit, and not at all the poorer ones, exception being the Stefan-Voda Apa-Canal. Assessment of the progress in implementing the activities under the project showed a great change to the better. Focus on strengthening the managerial and financial capacity of Apa-Canals alongside with investments in physical rehabilitation of the networks lead to successful achievement of project objectives, some performance indicators already exceeding the target.

The implementation of pilot project in the selected five towns contributed to greater experience of the employees by the means of a continuous training program in water supply and sanitation, thus building the participating utilities’ institutional capacity. The project closely interrelated with environment protection, its outcomes contributing to improved quality of environment in the five localities as well as in general.

The credit was given in accordance with the standard conditions of the International Development Association (IDA) of the World Bank Group, with 40 years credit maturity and 10 years grace period, and was disbursed in compliance with WB guidelines and procedures. The experts indicated that best progress was registered by ‘Apa-Canal’ utilities of Orhei, Cahul and Stefan Voda.