Harold Doan and Associates, CA
Feb 26 2005

Armenia: World Bank Supports Improvement of Water and Wastewater
Services in Yerevan

Feb. 25 2005

Press Release – World Bank

The World Bank’s Board today approved an International Development
Association (IDA) credit of US$20 million for the Yerevan Water and
Wastewater Project (YWWP). The credit will assist the Armenian
Government in its efforts to improve Yerevan’s water and wastewater
system by continuing and expanding accomplishments achieved under a
previous IDA-financed Municipal Development Project (MDP).

The YWWP will help provide Yerevan with safe, continuous water supply
while reducing environmental pollution. This is the third
IDA-financed water and wastewater project in Armenia. The World Bank
also financed the initial Municipal Development Project to support
Yerevan’s Water and Sanitation Company (YWSC) and a more recent
(FY04) Municipal Water and Wastewater Project for Armenia’s medium
and small-sized cities.

`Because of Government’s visionary leadership of the Armenian water
sector, and diligent efforts by all project participants, significant
improvements have been made in Yerevan’s water service since the
first project began in 1998,’ said Brian Steven Smith, head of the
World Bank team designing the YWWP, – `Much work still remains of
course, and we look forward to continued improvement during
implementation of the new project.’

The Project benefits directly from Yerevan’s successful experience
with a management contractor recruited under the MDP. For the YWWP,
Government will increase private sector involvement and competitively
recruit an operator for YWSC under a lease contract. The Project will
finance investments in YWSC during the first five years of the lease.

The Project has two components: a YWWP Fund and Technical Assistance.
The YWWP Fund will finance investments undertaken by the water
utility operator during implementation, which will yield energy
savings, improved reliability of supply, and reduction of
environmental pollution. The Technical Assistance component will fund
interim operational management of YWSC, project financial and
technical audits, and incremental operating expenses.

The Credit will be made to Armenia on standard IDA terms, including
40 years maturity and a 10-year grace period.

Since joining the World Bank in 1992 and IDA in 1993, the commitments
to Armenia total approximately US$ 860 million for 38 operations.