The World Bank has reviewed the progress of the project related to the water supply sector, improving the indicator by one level from “moderately unsatisfactory” to “moderately satisfactory”.

This assessment remains a modest assessment in the entirety of the scales, but it seems that the project, which has two lines of financing with a total of USD 81.5M, has marked some steps forward. “Important milestones were noted, including the completion of Disbursement Linked Indicator 1 (DLI 1), which supports improved financing and subsidies for the sector. Progress was also achieved in other DLIs, such as sector financing allocations, financial sustainability, service continuity, and new household customer connections, with several key actions identified to maintain momentum and achieve objectives,” the World Bank’s argument in the report states.

Specifically, in the first financing line, which has a total of USD 75M in the last review, it is said that disbursement reached USD 16.38M by January with a total of 22.08%, while in the second effective credit line, the total financing is USD 6.3M. From this line, disbursement reached 9.94% of the total or 0.63%.

The bank’s report underlines that delays due to complaints regarding tenders should be prevented. On the other hand, the Bank estimates that the program's auditors were trained in 2024 to eliminate various problems, something for which the bank is exploring new opportunities to ensure good performance in terms of financial auditing.

The National Program for the Modernization of the Water Supply and Sewerage Sector of Albania has been supported for some time now with financing from the Bank but also the government, targeting investments in different regions of the country.