For the final discussion of the report of the Directive Specific Implementation Plan (DSIP) concerning the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive (UWWTD) the members of the working group gathered on December 16, 2022, in Tirana.
The UWWTD is one of the most investment-heavy of all EU Directives. Therefore, investment programming, financial planning, and program management capability are key requirements in the delivery of compliance commitments. The report recognizes legal, institutional, and technical gaps, specifies the implementation of measures, the cost assessment, and identifies possible financial sources. It presents also the recommendations on the investment implementation schedule and the overall transition period for the full adoption of the Directive.
Investment measures
Based on the requirements of the EU directive 271/EEC /21 May 1991 and the gap analysis of waste water collection and treatment infrastructure the following measures for achieving compliance were identified:
- Construction of 2,719 km of new sewer pipelines
- Construction of 370 km of main transport collectors and sewer interceptors inclusive of about 800 kW of installed power for waste water pumping.
- Rehabilitation/replacement of 1,489 km of existing sewer during the planning period (about 2 % per year ~ full replacement in 50 years)
- Rehabilitation and completion of construction of the 14 existing WWTPs, further expansion of their capacity, and upgrade of their treatment level.
- Construction of additional 100 new WWTPs (of which 16 have already been designed at the feasibility or conceptual level).
- Rehabilitation measures for asset reliability and effciency (WWTP laboratories, mechanical, electrical, instrumentation, control
- Increase collection and analysis from 196 to 944 WWTP effluent samples per year (–> new national reference accredited laboratory)
Overall Investment
The overall capital investment and legal, policy, and institutional measures are estimated at an amount of about 2,355 MEur out of which 458 MEur is to be implemented in the short-term (76 MEur/year), 1,106 MEur (111 MEUR/year) in the medium-term and 790 MEur (79 MEur /year) in the long-term.
Implementation timeframe
Such investment measures have been prioritized into high, medium, and low priority measures based on technical considerations and a multi-criteria ranking of all agglomerations factoring their size, requirements for tertiary treatment, project readiness, and type of the proposed measure. The time frame for implementing the capital investment measures is proposed to be 26 years starting in 2025 and ending in 2050; the legal, policy, and institutional building measures are proposed to be 16 years starting in 2025 and ending in 2040.
After reviewing the working group’s comments, the consolidated version will be presented in the dedicated seminar in a larger auditorium on the 18th of January 2023, in Tirana.
The working group participants represented the National Agency of Water Supply, Sewerage and Waste Infrastructure (AKUM), Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy (MoIE), Ministry of Tourism and Environment (MoTE), Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MoARD), National Environment Agency (NEA), Water Supply Sector Regulatory Authority (ERRU), Agency for the Management of Water Resources (AMBU), Water Supply and Sewerage Association in Albania (SHUKALB), GIZ Albania and NIPS Project.
