18 Dec 2020

Public consultation – Preparation of the Water Services Modernization Project in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina

With a view to improving the status of water supply and sanitation sector in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the World Bank works on the preparations for the launch of the Water and Sanitation Services Modernization Project aimed at creating an enabling framework geared towards greater operational and financial sustainability, good management practices and credit worthiness of the water and sanitation service providers. The proposed project directly addresses the priorities laid out in the Country Partnership Framework FG 16-FG20 agreed jointly by the World Bank and the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. One of the main pillars of the Country Partnership Framework for Bosnia and Herzegovina concerns the improvement of public service provision, which is often inefficient and financially unsustainable. The project will also contribute to more resilient, inclusive and sustainable recovery in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as noted in the World Bank document on the COVID-19 response. The current projects and interventions undertaken by other development partners will also be relied upon and consulted by the Project.     

The overall Project objective is improving BiH’s sustainability and efficiency of WSS service delivery, and as a consequence, improving water security and resilience to expected climate change-induced shock.

The Project development objective is to support the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina to:

  • strengthen the institutional capacity at entity and local level for improved WSS service delivery;
  • improve access to safely managed WSS services, and
  • improve the efficiency of WSS service providers in participating local governments.

The Project will be implemented in both entities, consisting of three main components addressing reform provisions defined in the Joint Vision for reform sector needed to advance the water supply and wastewater management services reform in BiH for the period 2021-2028. The project implementation will support the ongoing processes led by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Water Management and Forestry for establishing a unified framework for tariff setting and regulatory functions. Project will also encourage the involvement of other IFIs and bilateral partners, through grants and technical assistance operations, in order to ensure the implementation of the Joint Government-Donor Vision for sector reform.

For the purpose of consulting the public through the process of preparing this important project, the following documents are published here for public information and comments:

Any requests for more information or your feedback to be sent to: sukavata.bejdic [at] fmpvs.gov.ba.