EBRD Finances Wastewater Treatment Plant in Kazakhstan

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has announced its commitment to financing the construction of a new wastewater treatment plant and associated infrastructure in Aktobe. The initiative is aimed to address pressing water treatment and environmental issues in Kazakhstan’s fourth-largest city. The EBRD is extending a sovereign loan of up to KZT 47.4 billion (€ 96.4 million) to state-owned JSC Aqtobe Su-Energy Group, a company responsible for centralized water supply, wastewater treatment and district heating in the city. The loan by the EBRD, its largest to date for any municipal project in Central Asia, will also finance the construction of a sludge treatment facility with a biogas-fuelled power generation unit. The new treatment plant will replace the current facility which commissioned in 1984, is now obsolete. With capacity to process up to 100,000 cubic metres of contaminated water per day, it will satisfy the needs of Aktobe’s population of 600,000. The proposed sludge treatment facility, which includes a waste-to-energy unit for the production of green energy to partially cover the area’s electricity consumption, will eliminate odour-related problems, and help reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by 23,000 tons of CO2 equivalent. It is anticipated that once in operation, the plant will provide a model for replication across Kazakhstan where almost a third of cities are currently without effective wastewater treatment facilities