Bulgaria Mulls Creating National Water Company

Bulgaria is considering the establishment of a National Water company (NWC) similar to the existing electric one (NEK), according to Regional Minister, Rosen Plevneliev.

Plevneliev spoke Tuesday during the meeting with the Confederation of Employers and Industrialists in Bulgaria (CEIBG)

The aim is to consolidate the water sector whose network is now too fragmented, leading to water losses of 55% to 70%. The State plans to create new Water Supply Companies (ViK), most likely corresponding to the 4 Basin Directorates in Bulgaria. The Water companies are now 50 with State, municipal or mixed ownership.

Plevneliev informed his Ministry is working on preparing a water strategy to be ready by the end of 2010. According to the Minister, EUR 8 – 10 B will be needed as investments in the next 10 years. Under the new strategy, water regulation will be the authority of just one Ministry, unlike the current division of the responsibilities between the Environment, the Agriculture, the Regional, the Economy and Energy, and the Health Ministries.

“If I could give those Water Companies to the Environment Ministry, I would do it right away,” Plevneliev said.

The strategy for management of the ViK sector was passed in 2004 by the cabinet of former Tsar, Prime Minister, and leader of the National Movement for Stability and Prosperity (NMSP), Simeon Saxe-Coburg, with the gold to improve ViK services. The strategy included measures to deal with the problems and the needed investments were estimated at over EUR 9 B.

In the summer of 2009, under the request of the European Commission, the Three-Way coalition cabinet, led by Socialist PM, Sergey Stanishev, passed an amendment to merge ViK operators in territorial associations that could apply for EU financing, but the measure was not applied in the practice. As result, the EC threatened to cut EUR 1 B for Bulgaria from the operational program “Environment.”