Minister Sandov held a video meeting with the team of the European Investment Bank (EIB) for Bulgaria. The EIB representatives presented the progress with the implementation of the Agreement on support for infrastructure projects in the water sector, financed under Operational Program Environment 2014-2020, which will be active until 2023.

The objective of the agreement is to contribute to high-quality and standardized services by 16[1] consolidated water supply and sewerage operators.

The EIB representatives noted the importance of their support for transparent funding and control on monitoring and reporting procedures in the implementation of individual projects.

Minister Sandov said that problems in the water sector are significant and it is therefore crucial to utilize expert knowledge in overcoming them and achieving high European standards in services in the water sector, in particular the protection of water resources.

Future possibilities for expanding the scope of the Agreement to provide support for capacity enhancement of newly consolidated regional water and sewerage operators were also discussed during the meeting.

[1] The Water and Sewerage operators in Smolyan, Burgas, Varna, Vidin, Vratsa, Dobrich, Kardzhali, Pernik, Plovdiv, Ruse, Silistra, Sliven, Stara Zagora, Shumen, Yambol, and Sofia.