For a cleaner Mediterranean by the year 2020
This initiative is funded by the European Commission through DG EuropeAid.

Validation of the status of Mediterranean investment projects with ‘financing secured’ completed

on 08 Mar 2014.

At the “Pollution Reduction Core Group” meeting held in Barcelona on the 18th April 2012, it was agreed that factual knowledge of the status of the depollution investment projects that have already secured financing would be of great value to the EC, IFIs/Donors, UNEP/MAP, UfM and other organisations steering the Horizon 2020 process. This “validation” would allow for a more holistic overview of executed, ongoing and planned pollution reduction projects in the south and east Mediterranean region and help evaluate the main elements impeding or supporting a successful project preparation and implementation towards eliminating UNEP/MAP identified “hot spots” and therefore reducing pollution into the Mediterranean Sea.

 

At the “Pollution Reduction Core Group” meeting held in Barcelona on the 18th April 2012, it was agreed that factual knowledge of the status of the depollution investment projects that have already secured financing would be of great value to the EC, IFIs/Donors, UNEP/MAP, UfM and other organisations steering the Horizon 2020 process. This “validation” would allow for a more holistic overview of executed, ongoing and planned pollution reduction projects in the south and east Mediterranean region and help evaluate the main elements impeding or supporting a successful project preparation and implementation towards eliminating UNEP/MAP identified “hot spots” and therefore reducing pollution into the Mediterranean Sea. This Validation Report has now been completed and is available here.

Country missions took place to all partner countries where secured financing of projects was reported except for Libya and Syria. It should be noted that the missions to Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Morocco and Palestine were joint missions with the UfMS assigned consultant, whose mandate was to assess progress and success of projects to demonstrate a pollution reduction impact. Besides the close coordination with the UfMS Consultant, MeHSIP-PPIF also worked together with the TA team implementing “Sustainable Water Integrated Management – Support Mechanism” (SWIM-SM / EU-funded) to draw on and optimise their resources to carry out verification missions to projects that have reached operating phase.

Main findings from the validation exercise were presented during the 6th Horizon 2020 Steering Committee (Brussels, 19th November 2013) that provided an overview of the status of the projects that have already secured funding and are part of the Horizon 2020 Project List. The Validation Report provides an in-depth analysis on those projects that have been subject to delay and the reasons behind the delay were identified. Based on this analysis, MeHSIP-PPIF set out a number of lessons learned that should allow for targeted measures to be taken to minimise or eliminate the causes of delay or at least account for this delay in project planning and financing terms for future pollution reduction investment projects. This validation exercise indicates an assessment of the realistic time needed to develop a project from feasibility study through to commissioning and operation.