Rehabilitation of three dams of the Drin River Cascade
TIRANA, December 20, 2011—The World Bank’s Board of Executive Directors today approved a loan of US$21.6 million in additional financing to the Republic of Albania for the Energy Community of South East Europe APL Program – APL 5 for Albania Dam Safety Project. The additional financing will complement the original IDA credit of US$35.3 million to support the Government in safeguarding major hydroelectric plants on the Drin River cascade. It will also help improve the operational efficiency and enhance the stability of power supply for the regional electricity market.
The additional loan will help finance the completion of two main activities:
- Rehabilitation of the spillways in three dams of the Drin River cascade (Fierza, Komai and Vau i Dejes hydropower plants); and
- Rehabilitation of the Komani hydropower plant through refurbishment of electro-mechanical equipment and replacement of existing control, protection, and monitoring systems.
“This additional financing would enable the successful implementation of the original project, thus contributing to safeguarding the major hydroelectric power plants in Albania and helping prevent a possible catastrophe from a dam failure,” said Salvador Rivera, World Bank Task Team Leader for the Dam Safety Project.
The Energy Community of South East Europe APL Program – the APL 5 for Albania Dam Safety Project – is part of a larger Dam Safety program financed in parallel by other international financial institutions (IFIs) such as SECO-Switzerland, KfW Germany, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), and the Government of Albania.
