German KfW To Invest Nine Mln Euro in Kosovo Water Supply System

The United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) said on Monday that German bank Kreditanstalt fuer Wiederaufbau (KfW) will invest nine million euro ($12 million) in three regions in the U.N.-run southern Serbian province of Kosovo.

"More than two thirds of the nine million euro financial contribution will be directed for investments exclusively for procurements, priority rehabilitation of urban water supply systems and consulting services for the regional water supply companies," UNMIK said in a statement.

The rest of the money will be used for the development of a strategy for the regional companies and consultant services, the statement said.

KfW had helped Kosovo's water sector with 43 million euro since 1999. It had financed emergency repairs in 17 cities in the first years, but now it supports the water companies in a bid to make them self-sustainable, UNMIK said.

Kosovo, a Serbian province of two million people, is legally part of the loose union of Serbia and Montenegro, which succeeded rump Yugoslavia in 2003. The province was put under United Nations administration after NATO bombed Serbia in 1999 to halt the Serb repression of the ethnic Albanian majority in Kosovo.