The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) extended a €14 million loan to improve water and wastewater services for 170,000 people in Romania’s Hunedoara County. The funding goes to SC Apa Prod SA, the county’s water services provider, to co-finance projects alongside European Union support under Romania’s Sustainable Development Operational Programme. The loan will help complete a €230 million investment program that rehabilitates and expands water infrastructure across 33 communities. This represents the 11th loan under EBRD’s Sustainable Water Infrastructure Facility to support Transition program, which helps Romanian water companies meet EU standards and improve services.
Romania’s water infrastructure continues to lag behind EU standards in many rural and smaller urban areas. Many communities experience aging pipes that leak substantial amounts of water, unreliable service, and treatment plants that don’t meet current environmental requirements. The country has been working for years to upgrade its water systems with EU assistance, but the task remains extensive and costly.
SC Apa Prod SA has been collaborating with EBRD since 2014 and has already invested over €140 million into water and wastewater infrastructure improvements. The company has been implementing tariff increases and operational changes to become more financially sustainable. The new investments should reduce water losses and increase connection rates to water and wastewater networks by 2028.
EBRD has become a major institutional investor in Romania’s water sector, financing 25 water operators across the country with over €600 million in loans. This works alongside more than €5 billion in EU funding for Romanian water and wastewater facilities. The projects help bring Romanian water services up to EU standards while improving public health and environmental protection.
EBRD has invested more than €12 billion in 573 projects across Romania, making it one of the bank’s most active markets for infrastructure development.
