France allocates EUR 64 mln for water supply project in Mariupol

The French Government will provide a soft loan worth EUR 64 million for a project to supply drinking water to Mariupol.

Minister of Temporarily Occupied Territories and IDPs Vadym Chernysh and French Ambassador to Ukraine Isabelle Dumont signed the framework agreement today, an Ukrinform correspondent reported.

"We want to show that our support is not only words, but concrete actions. We are working together. And I can assure that we were able to reach such a result very quickly," the ambassador said.

The purpose of the agreement is to solve the key problem of a large industrial city, provide high-quality water to almost 500,000 residents, minimize water losses. According to the project, the funding worth EUR 64 million is provided by the Government of France for 30 years with a 10-year grace period and at a rate of 0.08% annual interest. This is about 65% of the cost of the project. The remaining amount of the funding will be provided from other sources.

The project envisages the development of a master plan for improving the water supply and wastewater disposal of Mariupol until 2040.