The EBRD has been considering a sovereign loan of up to EUR 8 million to finance a solid waste management project for the Puhovichy and Cherven districts in Belarus. The main components of the Project included: (i) the construction of an EU compliant regional sanitary landfill, (ii) a sorting facility, (iii) a composting facility, and (iv) vehicles and equipment for improvement of the waste collection system.
Description of actual services provided by the staff within the assignment:
EBRD hired Ircon and Sweco Hydroprojekt to carry out feasibility study on the new landfill. During this project need arose for Aspiro’s institutional expertise in municipal utility sector. Aspiro formed a team, organized the work and submitted a brief report. EBRD saw the need to increase creditworthiness of the borrower, which was a small district-level utility company integrating water supply, heating, and solid waste management. Following other similar cases in the region, it needed to explore the possibility to merge solid waste operations in two different districts, increasing the asset pool to cover the requested loan (to be used for solid waste equipment and a new landfill).
Aspiro researched institutional arrangements in Belarus, understood and interpreted the relationships among stakeholders, and proposed several scenarios how the solid waste operations could be merged by setting up a new company and transferring assets from existing entities. We prepared a list of risks associated with each scenario and proposed how to mitigate them, then prepared a high-level merger roadmap. We ended up our work with a presentation and a report that the EBRD used for discussion with Minsk regional government, resulting in obtaining their support for the merger.
Client Statement:
“Exceptional services provided by the company Asprio Ceska Republika while assisting us in development of Technical Supplementary Study in Belarus in particular in supporting us in drafting a plan of set up of a new company and transferring assets from existing entities. “
Jaroslav Fiala, Director of Expert Division, Sweco Hydroprojekt a.s