Early Warning System

Regions

Europe and Central Asia

Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.

Countries

Serbia

Geographic location where the impacts of the investment may be experienced.

Financial Institutions

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

International, regional and national development finance institutions. Many of these banks have a public interest mission, such as poverty reduction.

Project Status

Approved

Stage of the project cycle. Stages vary by development bank and can include: pending, approval, implementation, and closed or completed.

Bank Risk Rating

Environmental and social categorization assessed by the development bank as a measure of the planned project’s environmental and social impacts. A higher risk rating may require more due diligence to limit or avoid harm to people and the environment. For example, "A" or "B" are risk categories where "A" represents the highest amount of risk. Results will include projects that specifically recorded a rating, all other projects are marked ‘U’ for "Undisclosed."

Voting Date

Nov 24, 2021

Date when project documentation and funding is reviewed by the Board for consideration and approval. Some development banks will state a "board date" or "decision date." When funding approval is obtained, the legal documents are accepted and signed, the implementation phase begins.

Borrower

Republic of Serbia - Ministry of Finance

A public entity (government or state-owned) provided with funds or financial support to manage and/or implement a project.

Sectors

Communications

The service or industry focus of the investment. A project can have several sectors.

Investment Type(s)

Loan

The categories of the bank investment: loan, grant, guarantee, technical assistance, advisory services, equity and fund.

Investment Amount (USD)

$ 117.73 million

Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Currency conversion note:
Bank reported EUR 100 million
Converted using 2021-08-25 exchange rate.

Project Cost (USD)

$ 123.61 million

Value listed on project documents at time of disclosure. If necessary, this amount is converted to USD ($) on the date of disclosure. Please review updated project documents for more information.
Currency conversion note:
Bank reported EUR 105 million
Converted using 2021-08-25 exchange rate.

Bank Documents

Primary Source

Original disclosure @ EBRD website

Updated in EWS May 12, 2022

Disclosed by Bank Aug 25, 2021

Contribute Information
Can you contribute information about this project?
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Project Description

If provided by the financial institution, the Early Warning System Team writes a short summary describing the purported development objective of the project and project components. Review the complete project documentation for a detailed description.

According to the Bank's website, the project provides funding to the Republic of Serbia to finance the construction of mid-mile and last mile fibre broadband infrastructure connecting up to 1,600 rural schools/ public institutions in Serbia to the existing fibre backbone network. The Executing Agency of the project is the Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunication.

The Project will address the shortage of digitally skilled labour, which Serbia is experiencing due to recent rapid ICT sector growth, and which now presents a serious hindrance to private sector development. The Project will also address the digital rural-urban divide, since the lack of broadband in rural areas reduces the capacity of a large portion of the country's population to fully participate in the modern economy.

The Project is in line with the EBRD Country Strategy for Serbia (BDS/SB/17-1 /F), with objective to improve public governance and business climate through "support to new technologies and innovation, benefitting from digital switchover and broadband penetration", as well as with the ICT Sector Strategy (BDS14-052) by "promoting competitive network expansion and access to communications and information to more citizens, through broadband penetration to more distant places".

Investment Description

Here you can find a list of individual development financial institutions that finance the project.

European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)

Contact Information

This section aims to support the local communities and local CSO to get to know which stakeholders are involved in a project with their roles and responsibilities. If available, there may be a complaint office for the respective bank which operates independently to receive and determine violations in policy and practice. Independent Accountability Mechanisms receive and respond to complaints. Most Independent Accountability Mechanisms offer two functions for addressing complaints: dispute resolution and compliance review.

PROJECT CONTACT INFORMATION

Milan Dobrijevic
milan.dobrijevic@mtt.gov.rs
+ 381 11 2020 072
7 Pariska St. 11000 Belgrade, Serbia

ACCESS TO INFORMATION

You can request information by emailing: accessinfo@ebrd.com or by using this electronic form: https://www.ebrd.com/eform/information-request

ACCOUNTABILITY MECHANISM OF EBRD

The Project Complaint Mechanism (PCM) is the independent complaint mechanism and fact-finding body for people who have been or are likely to be adversely affected by an European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)-financed project. If you submit a complaint to the PCM, it may assess compliance with EBRD's own policies and procedures to prevent harm to the environment or communities or it may assist you in resolving the problem that led to the complaint through a dialogue with those implementing the project. Additionally, the PCM has the authority to recommend a project be suspended in the event that harm is imminent.

You can contact the PCM at: pcm@ebrd.com or you can submit a complaint online using an online form at: http://www.ebrd.com/eform/pcm/complaint_form?language=en

You can learn more about the PCM and how to file a complaint at: http://www.ebrd.com/work-with-us/project-finance/project-complaint-mechanism.html