Übersicht
The proposed investment principally concerns STEG's 2007-2011 natural gas development programme in Tunisia, which has two components: public distribution to connect 340 000 new residential customers and expansion of the transmission network.
The project comes under Tunisia's Eleventh National Plan (2007-2011) and forms part of the Tunisian Government's priority programme aimed at significantly increasing gas penetration in the industrial and residential sectors in order to reduce imports of petroleum products (LPG, heavy fuel oil and diesel oil) and protect the environment. Measures to encourage people to be connected to the gas network have been introduced with the aim of connecting 500 000 homes by 2009.
By contributing to the development of the energy supply in Tunisia, particularly in the private sector, the project is in line with the objectives of the Bank's FEMIP Facility.
An evaluation of the project's environmental impact is required by Tunisian law (Decree 91-362), largely inspired by European Directive 97/11/EEC). Environmental impact assessments, mitigating measures and their approval by the National Environment Agency (ANPE) are to be submitted to the Bank.
The various components of the project will be put out to international tender and will be published in the OJEU.