The proposed IFC investment is a EUR 28 million A loan to IZSU, the Water and Sewerage Administration of the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality (“IMM” or the “Municipality”), to help finance its wastewater treatment investment program in the service area of the Metropolitan Municipality of Izmir. IZSU has an investment plan of nearly EUR 200 million for 2013-2014 including major wastewater and sludge treatment as well as water and sewerage network infrastructure projects. The IFC loan will specifically finance the expansion of the Cigli Wastewater Treatment Plant (“WWTP”), for which IZSU obtained approval from the Ministry of Development and the Turkish Treasury for foreign borrowing.

The Cigli WWTP was built in 2000-01 to treat wastewater from some of the most densely populated districts of the Izmir Metropolitan Municipality, accounting for 82% of Izmir’s total population. Due to rapid population growth and possible infiltration from ground and sea water, the facility currently operates near maximum capacity (605,000 cubic meters per day) and experiences overflows especially during rainy periods. Moreover, important maintenance is needed to replace some facility equipments which have exceeded their useful lives. Hence the need to construct a fourth WWTP phase, which would expand treatment capacity to 821,000 cubic meters per day, avoiding overflows and allowing to shut down earlier modules for maintenance. At the same time, IZSU intends to undertake a study to analyze possible sources of infiltration into its sewerage network.