Kosovo Water Security and Canal Protection Project

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The objective of Water Security and Canal Protection Project for Kosovo is contribute to restoring the Iber Canal to its original capacity to improve water resource management for various canal water users in Central Kosovo. The project has 3 components. (1) Infrastructure rehabilitation and modernization component includes financing works for re-establishing the Iber canal transit capacity, enabling closure of the canal for maintenance, strengthening the canal structural safety against extreme events, and enhancing Gazivoda dam safety. This component will mainly rehabilitate the open-air sections of the canal (e.g. through canal lining, treatment of joints, repair of abutments, cuttings, aqueducts, culverts). In addition, by constructing a new balancing-and-emergency reservoir in Mihaliq area, the project will enable the ILC to: (i) cut the canal flow whenever needed to rehabilitate the canal's closed sections or amid extreme events and (ii) balance water demand and supply over the 2035 horizon. (2) Water resources protection and management component includes financing works for water resources protection and management, to increase the Gazivoda-Iber system operational efficiency and to protect the canal ambient water quality (against renewed or accidental pollution and other man-made disruptions). The works include selective fencing and covering of certain canal sections. (3) Project management, coordination, monitoring, and evaluation component will cover overall project management as well as coordination among the different ministries/agencies involved in water management as related to the canal.