As a form of support for German development cooperation in combating the COVID-19 pandemic, selected public utility companies and local governments were awarded packages of protective equipment and disinfectants on Thursday, October 29, 2020. The packages, which contain disinfectants, masks, gloves, protective suits, visors, were provided by GIZ on behalf of the German government within the Open Regional Fund for the Modernization of Municipal Services. The total value of support is 50,000 euros, and the cities included in the first round of package allocation are: Gracanica, Sanski Most, Srebrenik, Velika Kladuša, Gradiška, Kotor Varoš, Laktaši, Prnjavor, Trebinje, and Banja Luka.
Zoran Popović, President of the Association “Vodovodi Republike Srpske” and Director of “Vodovod” a.d. Banja Luka said that the help of the German government is very important and that the equipment will greatly help in the work and protection of workers and consumers in direct contact because Banja Luka Waterworks is the largest in Republika Srpska, where over 7,000 water quality controls are performed annually. increased due to a pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus. He also pointed out the cooperation of the Association “Vodovodi RS” with GIZ, since GIZ is training staff within the contract signed two years ago. In addition to the above, a number of projects related to water services on the issue of solving the problem of losses on the network and wastewater have been agreed upon, and further cooperation has been announced.
Peter Wolf thanked the selected local public companies in BiH, Sector Manager of the Open Regional Fund for Southeast Europe – Modernization of Municipal Services, saying that the goal is to help modernize municipal services, both in general services and in the water management sector, through regional networking and cooperation. . Due to the pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus, local governments, and public utilities are more than ever under pressure to provide adequate services and respond to high hygiene standards. He also stressed that in the fight against the pandemic caused by the COVID-19 virus, BiH wants to give special support to public utilities in the form of protective equipment and resources in order to provide adequate service and answers to high hygiene standards in the protection of plants, jobs, public surface and of course in order to best protect workers. German Development Cooperation has developed measures to strengthen its capacity to meet these challenges, and the total value of support in protective equipment and disinfectants for all 6 countries in the region is 400,000 euros.
