Institutional Support to the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning (mesp) and River Basin Authorities cris n° 2008/162-152

4.4Special conditions/accompanying measures taken by the government

The Project saw several changes of senior staff members of the MESP, which to some extent affected the implementation of planned Project activities. For example, the Permanent Secretary of the MESP was dismissed in 2008 and subsequently replaced by two consecutive Acting Permanent Secretaries. At the level of the Water Department, the Director was changed in 2008 and replaced in March 2009. For the interim period, an Acting Director was in charge of the daily affairs of the Department. Although such turnover of staff is not unusual, it slowed down the Project’s institutional design process of River Basin District Authorities.

Beside, the following shall be noted:

• 
  The MESP recruited a biologist, a person in charge of flooding and a person in charge of permitting in the Water Department to be involved in Project activities related to these technical areas;
  
• 
  The HMIK and KEPA provided equipment for some of the field measurements and analyses;
  
• 
  The MESP staff carried out measurements with Project staff during Pilot Project field activities.
  

4.5Transfer process and availability of products

Besides the hosting of the data catalogue and the web-portal on the MPS server, the main process of transferring Project products started in July 2009. In July it was decided to prepare the files of the different products to be delivered at the end of the Project. A large number of the output files were uploaded in three languages to the Project’s website (www.kosovo-water.eu). Some sensitive material on this website is password protected.

The products or outputs include:

4.5.1Technical reports and training material

• 
  Project progress, mission and technical reports including PowerPoint presentations;
  
• 
  The training documents and manuals (In Albanian, English, and Serbian language);
  
• 
  The hand books on methodology and procedures (quality management documentation provided to HMIK).
  

The manuals, the methodologies guidelines, and the databases were designed to support routine tasks of the partners’ staff which they have to perform in their daily work.

4.5.2Water Information System (electronic files)

In September 2009, staff of the Water Department was trained to upload documents delivered by the Project in electronic format on the MESP web-portal, which was installed on the server of the Ministry of Public Service.

This included:

• 
  The software tool ArcGIS;
  
• 
  The databases and the data captured;
  
• 
  GIS maps and files;
  
• 
  The sets of data collected on standard field forms and in Excel files (biology and groundwater);
  
• 
  The topographic files of the flooding zone of Skenderaj.
  

4.5.3Visibility materials

The Project’s visibility has been enhanced through a range of media and materials. The project’s produced:

• 
  Multi-lingual posters focusing on each of the six results, leaflets and booklets to present Project topics and results;
  
• 
  A Project website has been created and training on the web-portal was provided. These websites have restricted areas where documents can be downloaded and accessed with a password;
  
• 
  Photographic documentary especially for the description of field measurements and training units;
  
• 
  Video images documenting training and field activities mainly;
  
• 
  A professional 30-mins Documentary on Project activities.
  

4.5.4Information events for municipalities

During a six-week extension period, the Project invited Municipality representatives to attend two informative meetings. While a first meeting focused on Municipalities from the project area, a second targeted Municipalities from other parts of Kosovo.

Both events were well received. Discussions confirmed the burning need for MESP to address water issues in Kosovo through a more informative coordinated working approach. A summary of key discussion points is given in Table 15.

Table : Summary information on informative municipality events

Topic	Drini I Bardhe River Basin District	Iber Lepenc & Morava Basin District
No. of participants from municipalities	30	40
General comments and questions	Appreciation of the information provided, especially concerning maps of groundwater and flood issues; Readiness to cooperate with the MESP confirmed; Strong desire to participate in water resource management projects.	Appreciation of the information provided; Why has the Drini I Bardhe River been studied and not other more polluted rivers; Strong interest expressed through an environmental NGO working on fish habitat.
Issues	Flooding issues in Istok; Health and water quality awareness issues (inspectorate for sanitation); Moving forward with river basin plan for Ereniku River.	Strong need for continuation of flood risk studies; Need for a groundwater study in Mitrovica; Support need for flood management in Lipjan;
Recommendations	Improve information on water, environment and health issues especially where potable water quality is concerned	Extend project approach to other parts of Kosovo; Provide financial support to MESP to conduct ground-water study for Mitrovica.

4.5.5Administrative instruction for water permit issuing

In December 2009, the Water Department requested the Project to include in its extension period a review of the current Administrative Instruction on the Content, Form and Procedures for Issuing Water Permits. Accordingly, a water permit application and issuing process has been revised including 15 administrative steps grouped into four stages:

1. 
   Pre-consultation and applications stage
   
   1. 
      Consultation and information
      
   2. 
      Submission of request
      
   3. 
      Registration (water information system)
      
2. 
   Screening and evaluation stage
   
   1. 
      Initial screening for completeness of minimum requirements
      
   2. 
      Public notice
      
   3. 
      Inter-agency consultation
      
   4. 
      Additional documentation request
      
   5. 
      Water resource allocation and restriction check
      
   6. 
      Technical and operational evaluation
      
3. 
   Approval / refusal stage
   
   1. 
      Decision-making
      
   2. 
      Appeal stage
      
   3. 
      Final decision-making stage
      
   4. 
      Estimate of fees
      
4. 
   Final approval stage
   
   1. 
      Sending out signed letter and water permits standard form including an invoice stating incurred fees
      
   2. 
      Completion of registration and monitoring and reporting schedule
      

The full text proposed is attached in Appendix 2.