ariana fuerst, junior advisor of giz - intermunicipal cooperation. international best practices

13.04.23 Seite 1

Inter-municipal cooperation

International best-practices

Ariana Fürst, 5 June 2012

13.04.23 Seite 2Seite 2

Inter-municipal cooperation

In the last decades municipalities worldwide experienced the necessity to cooperate (Klemme 2002)

Forms of cooperation vary, depending on: Country´s legislation and experiences Legal form of cooperation Service area Number of municipalities involved


1) Commercial company: Berat and Kuçova water and sewerage utility, Albania

Situation:

2000 Law on functioning and organisation of local government: water supply and wastewater collection and treatment were legally handed over to the local government units

Municipalities of Kuçova and Berat lacked a continuous drinking water supply and inherited an inefficient distribution system for water and sewerage IMC addressed the need to increase service quality and efficiency


Solution: Merging two separate water supply and wastewaster

utilities beforehand belonging to two municipalities

Actors: the mayors of Berat and Kuçova municipalities, supported by the Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Telecommunication and the German Bank for Development (KfW)

Memorandum of Cooperation: establishment of joint structure (joining of financial tools; to advance investments)

The company has its own shareholders assembly and supervisory council

1) Commercial company: Berat and Kuçova water and sewerage utility, Albania


Technical and financial information: Provision for 146,000 inhabitants Organisation of company: two sectors (Berat and Kuçova);

central office in Berat Total number of employees: 271 A total investment of 6.6 Mio. Euro (purification and drainage

system) This initiative was supported and encouraged by KfW:

joining of enterprises as a condition to obtain the loan Upgrading the system to a standard that saves 30

litres/second of water

1) Commercial company: Berat and Kucova water and sewerage utility, Albania


Factors of success: The cooperation climate between Municipalities of Berat

and Kuçova has been good supported the IMC practice

Expertise from specialists helped this process since its start up

Support from respective Municipal councils of both cities which approved this joint cooperation

The support from the Central Government’s legal bodies Financial incentives

1) Commercial company: Berat and Kucova water and sewerage utility, Albania


Source: http://www.municipal-cooperation.org


Situation: Each of the municipalities had to take care of the

waste disposal on its territory higher service costs for the citizens. This landfills did not correspond to European standards

Solution: Modest financial possibilities of municipalities

decision to cooperate Public procurement procedure to hire a private

company for the waste management

2) Concession: Elin Pelin and Gorna Malina regional landfill, Bulgaria


Each of the municipalities signed separate concession contracts with the winner of the procurement procedure

The entire process was supervised by the Ministry of Environment and Water, including the feasibility analysis, the public procurement procedure and the building of the landfill



Technical and financial information: Total area of the landfill: 48,085.9 m2

Daily capacity of disposed waste: 40–50 tons Number of the served population: 30,000 The life of the landfill: 23 years The building of the new landfill (EUR 1.2 Mio.) was financially

supported by: state budget and funds (63%) Enterprise for Management of Environmental Protection Activities

(EMEPA) administered under the Ministry of Environment and Waters (30%)

financial contribution of the two municipalities (7%)



In every municipality there is a Deputy Mayor and an environmental expert

The municipal inspectors control the quality of service provided (M&E). A regional branch of MEW also controls the running of the landfill

Their monthly reports are the basis for monthly payments to the private company operating the waste management

The price of waste disposal per tonne is the same for both municipalities (financed through the waste management fees)



Source: http://www.municipal-cooperation.org


3) Zweckverband: GWAZ in Guben, Germany

Zweckverband = association for cooperation

Situation: During GDR: service provision was responsability of the

districts 1991: Retransfer to municipalities establishment of

associations (political reasons instead of water management criteria)

Oversized planning and construction (not taking into account demographic change and economical restructuring)

In 90s big credits from banks, which could not be amortised 1997 bankrupt


Solution: Rehabilitation and restructuring measures Joining of other municipalities higher utilised

capacity higher efficiency 1998: construction of sewage treatment plant together

with neighbouring municipality Gubin in Poland (INTERREG fund)

Outsourcing (private-public) Decentralised structures and services (small

wastewater systems; modular systems)



Nowadays: cash-flow positive, but still some financial shortages for modernisation measures

Advantage: financial support of government in the restructuring phase!



4) „Bad“-practice: Obiliq in Kosovo

Road construction together with Vushtrri: only Vushtrri gets funds from Ministry of Transport and Telecommunications produces jealously and problems

SWM is outsourced to regional company which incorporates 4 municipalities Problem: company does not pay fee for using waste

depository located in Obiliq Reason: low percentage of payment for the services

in all four municipalities

lack of a formal agreement between municipalities


Factors for success Encourage culture of cooperation (get-together of

mayors/administrative staff; information campaigns) mutual interests and benefits

Legislative framework has to be precise enough and to encourage initiatives of cooperation, especially in the beginning

Central state bodies: react to requests for cooperation and support local governments in administrative and expert ways

Capacity development in IMC, legal and technical assistance

Financial incentives encourages IMC


IMC in Moldova

To learn from made mistakes and bad experiences in other countries

To avoid duplicating those mistakes To use know-how and experiences from best-

practices solid know-how on IMC and on this basis elaborate

structured procedure to establish IMC in Moldovagain access to a range of funding


Thank you for your attention!

ariana fuerst, junior advisor of giz - intermunicipal cooperation. international best practices

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