Strategic Moves - Regional Environmental Center for Central and ...

FIGURE 10: Number of water utilities in SEE countries
160
140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
Albania Bosnia and
Herzegovina
Source: REC survey, 2008
Croatia FYR
Macedonia
are integrated in the municipal administration, thus the financial and operational
status of the utilities tends not to be fully transparent, and decisions are politically
influenced. The municipalities lack data on income, expenses, investment needs
and quality of services. This greatly inhibits their chances of acquiring external capital
funding for investment projects.
The water utilities in all SEE countries face similar problems, with varying degrees
of severity. These problems lead to low levels of operating-cost recovery —
that is, the ratio of tariff revenues to operating costs. Furthermore, water and wastewater
tariffs are not set at a level sufficient for cost recovery and there is a large proportion
of unpaid bills, which does not allow the utilities to invest in the repair, let
alone the expansion, of their infrastructure.
There is a high level of fragmentation of utilities throughout the region. Kosovo
(as defined under UNSCR 1244) recently carried out the regionalisation of its
water utilities. Officially, seven regional utilities, responsible for both water and
waste, were established in 2007. However, the Kosovo Trust Agency (KTA) that
managed the process ceased to exist in 2008, and the regional utilities have still not
become operational. It is still not clear who owns the regional utilities, thus in practice
the municipal utilities are still operating on their own. In Albania, there are 54
municipal water utilities and one regional water utility.
C H A P T E R 6
WAT E R A N D WA S T E U T I L I T I E S I N S E E — S TAT U S A N D R E F O R M
Kosovo
(under
UNSCR 1244)
Montenegro Serbia
S T R AT E G I C M O V E S 123