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Belarus to spend over $50m within two years on water deferrization
MINSK, 13 February (BelTA) – The state budget will spend an equivalent of over $50 million on water deferrization in 2019-2020. The information was released by Belarusian Housing and Utilities Minister Alexander Terekhov during the international conference held in Minsk on 12 February to discuss modern trends in the development of water supply and wastewater disposal, BelTA has learned. The conference is timed to the 145th anniversary since the Minsk city waterworks company Minskvodokanal was founded.
The official said: “The state raises money for this purpose. Over $50 million in state budget funding alone is supposed to be spent on the deferrization of natural water in 2019-2020.”
Money is also borrowed from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank.
Alexander Terekhov said the conference is taking place at a time when supplying all consumers with quality drinking water by 2025 and improving the treatment of wastewater are becoming top-priority tasks for the country.
The housing and utilities minister said that today the industry needs serious changes for the sake of improving the management structure, improving industrial processes, and introducing cutting-edge water and wastewater treatment systems. All of it should result in optimized operational costs, reliable and safe services, the official said.
Alexander Terekhov said that considering the scale of the investment, the government has to exercise additional control over the proper spending of the money. Certain managerial, technical, and organizational functions will have to be centralized. The emerging national water company Belvodokanal is supposed to take care of it. The future water company will be the one to work out solutions and bear the responsibility for the innovation-driven development of the water supply and wastewater treatment industry. At the same time it will be up to the owners to take care of the development of regional networks. In line with Belarus president decree No.488 on the construction of water supply and sewerage systems both local waterworks companies and local residents will be able to contribute to the development of the water supply and sewerage systems. In particular, households are supposed to cover the cost of getting connected to water supply networks and sewerage.
The international conference on modern trends in the development of water supply and wastewater disposal is scheduled to take place in Minsk on 13-14 February. Taking part in the conference are representatives of the Housing and Utilities Ministry, the Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Ministry, waterworks companies, the Minsk City Executive Committee, universities, research and industrial design institutes, specialists in the area of water supply, wastewater treatment, environmental protection, environmental sanitation, young scientists, and vendors of specialized equipment.
The conference has been organized by the Minsk city waterworks company Minskvodokanal and the Belarusian State Technological University with assistance of the Belarusian Housing and Utilities Ministry.
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