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

projects were at different stages of development: some of them were launched more
than 10 years ago and quality requirements have changed significantly, along with
the operating legal framework and the bodies responsible for issuing permits at national
and local level (Presentation: Glavocevic, 2008). The staffing and administrative
capacities of project proponents were not sufficient; and the level of
expertise and number of employees involved in project preparation was in some
cases underestimated. Many project beneficiaries demonstrated weak implementation
and operation capacity. In some cases, ownership of the utility or land was
an issue, while in other cases the determination of the location and the approval
process were delaying factors (Presentation: Unterwurzacher, 2008).
Other challenges outlined in the IPA III process in candidate countries include
delays and difficulties in the accreditation/compliance assessment process, which
is seen as long and complex and as creating a significant bottleneck in project implementation
(Presentation: Ozdemir, 2009).
Bilateral donor assistance
Bilateral donors are important sources of finance for SEE countries. Assistance
from donors plays an important role in know-how transfer, capacity building and
the co-financing of infrastructure projects. Donors channel significant amounts to
support the reconstruction and stabilisation processes of the region. Bilateral donor
institutions are primarily political institutions. This implies that they have diverse
strategies, priority areas and budget envelopes that are subject to the changing goals
of foreign policy support and that can alter abruptly. External aid is provided
mainly in the form of grants via development agencies or selected ministries; in
some cases loans are provided. Grant support is primarily directed towards institutional
strengthening and capacity building, project preparation, and in rare cases
to direct investments. Bilateral donors are mainly involved in financing capital investment
for small-scale infrastructure. However, they play a vital role in providing
grants for large infrastructure investments as well. In SEE countries, where local
governments are often unable to secure co-financing for investment loans, bilateral
grants can make it possible to receive the loan in the first place.
Trends in bilateral donors commitments
This section presents an overview of bilateral environmental support in order
to show how environmental commitments are shared by environmental sectors,
beneficiaries and donor countries. The calculations are based on the database maintained
by OECD on official development assistance (ODA).
Even the total ODA bilateral assistance to SEE countries in recent years shows
a decreasing tendency due to a coordinated shift of assistance to other regions. This
is a result of the significant progress in economic development and political stabilisation
in the SEE region, and the recent introduction of the EU IPA, which
was designed to finance the urgent development needs of the SEE countries. However,
assistance from bilateral donors to environmental infrastructure projects
shows an increasing trend. The total allocation for the improvement of water sup-
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