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Workshops on preparing LIFE+ project proposals and managing LIFE+ projects, 2008

On behalf of the European Commission, DG Environment, STELLA Consulting is currently implementing 28 information workshops on preparing LIFE+ project proposals and managing LIFE+ projects  in collaboration with the EU Member States.   During 2008 a workshop was held in each EU Member State, and two workshops in Belgium.  The workshops aim to inform potential beneficiaries of the LIFE+ Programme whether it is the best financing programme for their project, how to submit a good proposal and how to manage a LIFE+ project.  The workshops reached over 1,800 potential LIFE+ applicants, and the Presentation and other materials reached an even wider audience via the European Commission LIFE website.


Ukrainian-European Policy and Legal Advice Centre (UEPLAC)-Phase IV, 2006-2009

For the Government of Ukraine, the Council for Approximation of Legislation, chaired by the Prime Minister of Ukraine; STELLA, as partner of the Ukrainian-European Policy and Legal Advice Centre (UEPLAC) is supporting Ukraine in the process of European integration and legal approximation.
The overall objective of the project is to support the understanding, implementation, and ownership by the Ukrainian authorities of the whole process of approximation to EU principles and laws in all of the areas foreseen in the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement and in the European Neighbourhood Policy Action Plan.  The specific objectives are to assist in preparing approximated legislation work, to strengthen the Ukrainian policy-making/legislative process according to Ukraine’s objective for EU integration and to build Ukrainian capacity in understanding and being able to implement the process of approximating Ukrainian legislation to EU legislation.
STELLA is assessing the Ukrainian legislation in the environmental field against EU environmental acquis communautaire. We are carrying out Regulatory Impact Analysis (RIA) of transposition and implementation of the EU acquis regulating road transport in the Ukrainian legislation for the Ukrainian road haulers.  We are also providing policy recommendations on the integration of energy and environment policies into transport policies in light of the EU directives and experiences of the New Member States and giving our expert opinion and legal support on draft laws in comparison with the EU acquis and best practices.


LIFE06 ENV/D/00478-Integrated Wastewater Purification Management (IWPM), 2006-2011

STELLA is currently working on the project LIFE “IWPM Integrated Wastewater Purification Management”, a project whose overall objective is to demonstrate how wastewater management and treatement technologies can be improved through an innovative IWPM-System, increasing the quality of effluent and reducing costs, in support of EU-Directives on Wastewater, on Integrated River Basin Management (IRBM; EU-Directive 2000/60/EC), and on Flora, Fauna, Habitat (FFH).

The objective of the project is to improve the performance of wastewater treatment systems facing problems of load variations, to this end, IWPM proposes to install pipes between two plants to equalise the loads entering the plants.  The connections between the plants are physical (water transfer) and electronic (information transfer). The aim of the project is to enhance wastewater treatment results, which is done by integrating wastewater purification through a new combination of an electronic link (remote control) and physical connection (biologically activated pipe) of selected sewage treatment plants, in order to integrate their technical capacities and to enhance wastewater purification (as a result of equalised inflow peaks and full utilisation of all existing plant capacities at any time).

To complete the project, the potential for transfer and reproduction of the IWPM in other countries of Europe have to be evaluated (legal and economical requirements, conditions and constraints). STELLA is providing its expertise to evaluate the IWPM application in EU- Acceding and Candidate Countries (EU ACC) and in selected Developing and Transformation countries (DTC).  STELLA will carry out short screening studies in EU ACC (Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and Turkey) indicating the expected investments for wastewater plants as well as the number and sizes of plants and major locations. STELLA will also identify and prepare two pilot applications, ideally in one acceding country (Romania) and one candidate country (Croatia).


Development of Teaching and Training Modules for Higher Education on Low-Cost Wastewater Treatment (ASIA-LINK), 2005-2008

For the European Commission, in partnership with universities in Belgium, Denmark, China and Vietnam, STELLA was part of developing teaching and training modules on low-cost water treatment plants for higher education institutions in Asia and in Europe. The overall objective was to contribute to the improvement of theoretical capabilities in wastewater treatment in rapidly developing urban and rural areas of China and Vietnam, exchanging and developing new concepts and methods of sustainable sanitation.
The project developed new approaches, methods, and analytical tools, which can help integrate the environment into the decision-making process and influence the choice of appropriate policies.  The project resulted in a completed developed curriculum, already tested and improved.  The teachers received training and now possess all the teaching materials needed to repeat the experience through years.  The project has raised awareness and strengthened the capacity of selected professionals in economic concepts and methods to estimate environmental benefits and conduct cost-benefit analyses.  The project was high profile and was broadcast on national television in Vietnam.


Technical assistance for strengthening the programming capacity of the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development in Romania, 2007-2008

For the Managing Authority (MA) of the Sectoral Operational Programme (SOP) for the Environment under the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MESD) in Romania, STELLA assessed the financial and technical soundness of waste and water infrastructure projects to be co-financed by the Cohesion and Structural Funds and in compliance with the EU environmental directives, in particular the definition of agglomeration under the wastewater treatment directive (91/271/CEE).

The project strengthened MA’s institutional capacity to perform a sound overall programming and monitoring of EU co-financed projects in Romania and to use efficiently and effectively the funds made available.  Through on-the-job co-operation, elaboration of methodologies and staff training, this project reinforced the capacity of MA staff to prepare sound project plans, guide municipalities on the preparation of project proposals, appraise and prioritise project proposals, evaluate project applications and tender documents, manage efficiently the process of evaluation, and monitor the implementation of approved projects.

STELLA revised waste and water infrastructure projects’ documents such as master plans, feasibility studies, EIA and cost-benefit and sensitivity analyses and corrected and improved the applications.  We also reviewed and edited 11 Cohesion and Structural Fund applications for water and waste projects and revised tender documents according to FIDIC's yellow and red books.

Finally, STELLA trained MA staff (primarily Programming Directorate and Intermediate Body, but also Structural Fund Directorate and Cohesion Fund Directorate) with 10 training sessions on various topics from Cost-Benefit Analysis to project application evaluation, one English Language Improvement Programme (ELIP), and two study tours.


Technical assistance for implementation of the grant schemes 2005-2006 in the field of environment in Romania, 2007-2008

STELLA assisted the regional and national environmental authorities --Ministry of Development, Public Works, and Housing (MDPWH) and Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MESD)-- with the proper and timely implementation of an environmental infrastructure grant scheme for local authorities.  The overall objective of this project was to contribute to improved environmental protection at the local and regional levels through supporting investments for the public sector and strengthening the institutional capacity to manage grant schemes and future structural funds.  The STELLA team achieved the following goals:

• Increase in the number of local authorities aware of the opportunities offered by the grant scheme for financing small waste management infrastructure projects;
• Increase in the number of bankable environmental infrastructure projects proposed to ensure a complete absorption of the EC funds available;
• Trained members of the Regional Evaluation Committees for evaluating and selecting projects;
• Trained staff from MDPWH, MESD, REPAs, LEPAs, and RDAs in monitoring the grants; and
• Trained beneficiaries of the investment grant schemes in all aspects required for sound implementation of the grant contracts, including secondary procurement and monitoring.
  

STELLA also assisted local authorities in preparing tender documents for environmental infrastructure projects, such as master plans, feasibility studies, environmental impact assessments and economic and financial analysis, in order to increase the number of bankable projects to ensure a complete absorption of the EC funds available.  Through the raised awareness of the relevant regional and local authorities, this project has supported the implementation of the environmental infrastructure investment grant scheme for the public sector at the regional and local levels and increased the number of EU-funded environmental investment projects and grant schemes.

Evaluation of project proposals for the LIFE Third Countries programme

The Financial Instrument for the Environment (LIFE) Third Countries (TCY) aims at contributing to the establishment of capacities and administrative structures needed in the environmental sector and developing environmental policy and action programmes in third countries bordering on the Mediterranean and the Baltic Seas. The EC launched a call for proposals in June 2005 and received approximately 100 new proposals from 13 eligible countries and territories (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, West Bank and Gaza, and the Baltic shoreline of Russia: St Petersburg and Kaliningrad regions) and from international organisations.

The objective of the assignment is to select the best project proposals in accordance with the criteria set up by the LIFE Regulation and to provide technical support and assessment of the projects considered eligible by the Commission services. The team of seven evaluators led by Mr. Guillas will assess eligible proposals according to the following criteria:

• Technical and financial reliability of the applicants;
• Conformity with the scope of LIFE TCY, as defined in the LIFE regulation;
• Coherence and quality: projects should be technically and financially feasible;
• Institutional/capacity building effect, viability and sustainability;
• Interest of the project; and
• Dissemination/visibility.

Xavier Guillas announced that he was pleased to coordinate this evaluation after carrying out the revision phase of the 2001 LIFE TCY proposals and assisting the European Commission in monitoring the implementation of over 60 LIFE TCY projects and organising missions in more than seven countries between 2001 and 2005.

Technical assistance to the Budget Department of Romania’s Ministry of Environment and Water Management (MEWM)

A number of recent reforms and reorganisation initiatives in the area of budget preparation in Romania have yet to yield the kind of results expected and necessary to effectively develop a meaningful medium-term, policy-based budget process. There is a need to improve institutionalisation of programme budgeting and the medium-term expenditure framework. On top of this, the government faces a major challenge of creating fiscal space for the potential EU post-accession funds and ensuring that these funds are allocated to projects of strategic importance. The projects should additionally be well integrated into the budget framework by ensuring, for example, that counterpart and recurrent costs associated with these projects are included in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework going forward. These challenges have particular implications for the key line ministries, including MEWM, where post-accession funds are expected to play a major role.

The objectives of STELLA’s assistance are to:

• Facilitate continued improvements in the identification, costing, and prioritisation of MEWM’s budgetary programmes;
• Ensure the development of links between the work of the budget department within MEWM and the National Development Plan work in the Ministry of Public Finance, in such a way that any projects or activities that will benefit from EU post-accession funds are fully reflected in the budget submissions;
• Develop/integrate financial management and audit standards to follow up the quality/outcome of the financed budget programmes and the efficiency of MEWM’s spending;
• Strengthen MEWM’s budgetary analysis to ensure MEWM can effectively analyse policy options in the submitted budgets; and
• Support the budgetary department in the administration of a World Bank SWAp approach to a proposed environmental management loan, which will require monitoring of inputs.

The assignment recently awarded is part of a complex programme, which also includes the provision of budgetary assistance to the Ministry of Public Finance (MPF), the General Secretariat of Government (GSG), and several key line ministries (i.e., Health, Transport, Construction, and Tourism).

Evaluation of the potential of Carbon Emission Reductions of the wastewater sector and pre-feasibility of Clean Development Mechanism projects in Tunisia.

STELLA collected relevant data about wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) with a capacity of more than 18,000 people-equivalent, focussing on the Greater Tunis, Nabeul-Hamamet, and Sousse areas, calculated the amount of GHG released by the current sludge treatment practices, and assessed to what extent these emissions could be reduced. Wastewater CDM projects approved so far by UNFCCC consist of installing anaerobic sludge digesters and flaring or using the methane produced on site.

STELLA also conducted an economic and financial analysis of the potential CDM projects. We compared the economic and financial costs and benefits of anaerobic digestion projects for the six largest WWTP, based on a discounted cash flow analysis over the lifetime of the project. We calculated the Net Present Values (NPV) of each project based on anticipated revenues (with and without the sale of carbon credits) and investment and operation and maintenance (O&M) costs.

STELLA’ s General Manager selected to lead the institutional support to solid waste utilities in Kosovo.

In the immediate post war situation, 30 waste companies existed in Kosovo, some suffering from various incapacitating factors, such as:

• Insufficient customer base and fee collection to create financial sustainability;
• Political interference; and
• Lack of financial and technical expertise.

To achieve financial and operational sustainability, the Water Irrigation and Waste Division of the Kosovo Trust Agency developed a restructuring strategy. Along the same line, the focus of the contract recently awarded is to separate waste collection and transportation from waste disposal, thus facilitating the creation of a Landfill Management Company to manage final waste disposal activities throughout Kosovo.

Within the framework of the CARDS programme, the EC has decided to allocate €1,250,000 to this short investigative study into the strengths and weaknesses of the waste utilities in Pristina, Mitrovica, Gjilan, Ferizaj, Gjakova, Prizren, and Peja regions. Mr. Jean Tilly will manage this assignment and focus on two main areas essential for an effective waste management in Kosovo: organisational and operational support and financial management support. In the course of the project, the team led by Mr. Tilly will:

• Develop organisational, management, operational and customer relationships meeting the need for improved services and financial management;
• Improve organisational structures to enhance customer service and ensure inclusion of women and minorities and equality of treatment;
• Strengthen customer services through improved “contracts with customers” and compliance with the Water and Waste Regulatory Office regulation taking into consideration that women are the main direct user of the service provided;
• Improve asset maintenance procedures;
• Evaluate, improve, and extend collection routes including rural areas;
• Improve maintenance of computer systems and staff training;
• Evaluate, improve, and implement management systems;
• Establish financial control systems;
• Evaluate existing billing and collection systems and improve procedures; and
• Develop business planning.

Jean Tilly announced that he was enthusiastic about starting the project and declared: “I am pleased to lead this interesting project and participate in the development of this war affected region of Europe. It is a great opportunity for STELLA to develop its activities in Kosovo and the Balkans and demonstrate its unique skills in waste management and capacity building”.

Development of teaching and training modules for higher education on low-cost wastewater treatment in China and Vietnam.

The Asia-Link Programme is an initiative of the European Commission to promote regional and multilateral networking between higher education institutions in EU Member States and Asian countries. The programme aims to promote the creation of new partnerships and new sustainable links between European and Asian higher education institutions, and to reinforce existing partnerships.

The aim of the 36-month project managed by the FUSAGx (Belgium) is to establish co-operation with the Southwest University of Science and Technology (China), Hanoi University of Civil Engineering (Vietnam), and University of Aarhus (Denmark) on curriculum development and performance in low-cost wastewater treatment plants building. This should also lead to building up long-term relationships between the partners and further contacts both in education and research.

The specific objective of the project is to develop a teaching curriculum for new courses on low-cost wastewater treatment for MSc level students in Europe and Asia. The course will review the different low-cost treatment methods existing in the different partner countries and will focus on sharing the experience of processes developed and successfully applied by the partner institutions in their respective countries. Those processes usually use low-cost and light techniques to treat wastewater and reuse the treated wastewater for irrigation or to reduce the pathogens or pollutants. STELLA staff has successfully conducted wastewater treatment and water management projects in various Asian countries and will use this practical experience to help its partners develop different modules of the curriculum, in particular in leachates and industrial wastewater treatment, environmental assessment, institutional and financial aspects of wastewater treatment, and environmental economy. Through teaching and training of postgraduate students, the project will raise awareness and strengthen the capacity of the involved professionals in alternative sanitation concepts and methods. Course literature and teaching materials will be prepared, and study visits, workshops, and training sessions organised to facilitate the participation in the courses of teachers and students from the different universities.

The urbanisation process is proceeding very rapidly in Asia, but the water supply and drainage systems in the urban and peri-urban centres remain poor and deficient, with no common facilities for wastewater treatment available. The project is expected to contribute to the improvement of the theoretical capabilities in wastewater treatment in rapidly developing urban and rural areas of China and Vietnam, by means of exchanging and developing new concepts and methods of sustainable sanitation, and upgrade the skills of current and future Chinese and Vietnamese engineers in low-cost wastewater treatment, as those qualifications are highly demanded on the labour market nowadays. The action will also foster the exchange of ideas, concepts, and methods, which will greatly contribute to increase the awareness of European and Asian sanitation technologies in partner countries.

For further information on Asia Link, please visit the programme’s web site at http://europa.eu.int/comm/europeaid/projects/asia-link.

STELLA Signs Joint Venture Agreement in China

Jean Tilly, STELLA's General Manager said, "We are pleased to celebrate the signature of this joint venture agreement and look forward to assisting China with their landfill and landfill gas issues. We have proven our ability to implement projects in this market, and look forward to additional opportunities to demonstrate our expertise and technical strength."

For the past four years, STELLA has assisted the city of Mianyang in moving toward a market-oriented management of MSWM by developing a comprehensive set of affordable tariffs to ensure full cost recovery and therefore financial sustainability of operations.

The Mianyang landfill gas project expects to be approved as a Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) project. The CDM is one of two project-based flexible mechanisms of the Kyoto Protocol, designed to make it easier and cheaper for industrialised countries to meet the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets agreed to under the Protocol. The project will help the landfill reduce its emissions by up to 1.2 million tons of carbon dioxide equivalent over 10 years.

SOURCE: STELLA Consulting SPRL

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