Bulgaria Wholesale Markets

complete

The facility will consist of a loan of US$ 10 million to the Republic of Bulgaria to promote the development of four agricultural wholesale and farmers’ markets in Sofia, Sliven, Stara Zagora and Plovdiv. The operation is a revised version of the Bulgaria Wholesale Markets project approved by the Board on 22 November 1995. The revised investment plan will: The project will enhance competition and improve environmental and hygiene standards in the wholesale trade of fruit and vegetables. The Government and its agencies will be obliged to attempt to sell their shares to the market operators following project completion. The Government of Bulgaria, managed/implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Agrarian Reform. Loan of US$ 10 million (EUR 9.57 million) Total operation amounts to US$ 31.96 million (EUR 30.60 million) This project has been screened B/1 by the Environmental Appraisal Unit, requiring and environmental analysis and environmental audit. Environmental analyses and audits were conducted in November 1993 for the 10 sites comprising the original investment project. Nothing has changed since these reports were drafted, and so the baseline data and recommendations are still considered valid. However, the Bank has changed its policy with regard to environmental standards in the intervening period and the revised investment project will therefore be required to comply with not only national environmental standards, but also those existing in the European Union, or in the absence of relevant EU standards, World Bank environmental guidelines. The Market Companies will therefore need to update environmental due diligence to ensure that no events of environmental significance have occurred since the project was first approved, and to indicate how the markets will comply with the Bank’s revised environmental requirements. The recommendations of the original environmental consultants plus any actions necessary to meet the Bank’s revised requirements should be formulated in an Environmental Action Plan for each market to be agreed with the Bank. The Market Companies will need to continue providing Annual Environmental Reports to the Bank on the implementation of the Environmental Action Plans and on-going compliance status. None