Support to design the Reform Strategy for the transformation of Municipal Public Utility companies in Serbia

Name of client: Ministry of Economy and Regional Development.

Origin of funding: World Bank.

Detailed description of project:

Technical assistance and institutional capacity building project aiming at:

• to support the Working Group established by the Ministry of Economy and Regional Development on developing a municipal public utility company reform strategy in Serbia and to help the strategy implementation design;
• to advise the Working Group, the World Bank and the Public-Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF) on further assistance required to sustain the reform process going.

Four tasks of strategy development are specified for the Working Group and this advisory project should contribute to the fulfillment of them:

• Providing a detailed review of the existing conditions of the local public utility companies;
• Formulation of options for improving municipal service performance and considering alternative public service delivery arrangements;
• Identification of the PUC reform strategy components, including their urgency, sequencing, trade-offs, impact and accompanied risks;
• evelopment a detailed implementation program and action plan.

Type of services provided:

LGID in cooperation with its partners, provided support to MERD and the working group by identifying the major building blocks of PUC reform strategy. We provided specific targeted inputs in planning a realistic sequence of reform steps. LGID experts were involved in setting the agenda and procedures of the working group; presenting case studies on PUC transformation process (sequencing reform of public utility companies; water sector benchmarking; social policy considerations of the reform); taking stock of the data on municipal and PUC finances and performance.