According to Deputy Secretary General of the Ministry of the Environment Harry Liiv, the objective of the concluded project was to bring the water management infrastructure of the local governments located within the Emajõgi-Võhandu catchment into conformity with European Union Directives on Urban Waste Water and Drinking Water. “Our goal for the end of 2013 is to ensure that the residents of all larger settlements will have available to them safe, clean drinking water and the opportunity to connect to the public sewerage system, and with the conclusion of the given project there are now 47 600 residents who have those opportunities,” added Liiv. “It is the largest completed water management project, in which larger settlements such as Võru, Põlva, Räpina and Elva were included, along with a number of local government centres in South-Estonia,” specified Liiv. The project resulted in the construction and renewal of approximately 20 km of water and 280 km of sewerage piping, 50 bore wells, 41 drinking water treatment plants and 32 structures necessary for treating waste waters were constructed and renewed. The project’s total investment volume following the financing decision was initially EUR 53.7 million, of which Cohesion Fund support accounted for EUR 45.5 million or 85%, with 10% or EUR 10.2 million coming from cost-sharing by local governments and water undertakings and the Republic of Estonia providing 5% or EUR 8.3 million. Upon implementation of the project the cost increased by EUR 11 million, due to the increase in prices of construction materials, 90% of which was covered by the Republic of Estonia, via the Environmental Investment Centre, and 10% by local governments and water undertakings. Preparations for the project began in 2003-2004, when a Cohesion Fund financing application for Emajõgi-Võhandu was put together based on an order from the Ministry of the Environment, in cooperation with the local governments of Tartu County, Jõgeva County, Põlva County, Võru County and Ida-Viru County and the Environmental Investment Centre, with which irrecoverable aid was applied for from the Commission of the European Communities for the development of water management infrastructure. The financing application was submitted to the Commission of the European Communities in August 2004 and the project's financing decision arrived in December 2005. A total of 28 local governments from Tartu County, Jõgeva County, Ida-Viru County, Põlva County and Võru County were included in the project. The implementers of the project were water undertakings (AS Emajõe Veevärk, AS Põlva Vesi, AS Võru Vesi) owned by local governments. The festive conclusion to the “Emajõgi-Võhandu catchment area water management project" took place at 18.00 in Tartu, in the Atlantis conference centre. |
