North Macedonia, June 19, 2019

Aim Texas Trading, LLC Overseas Management Group has attended a tender in providing consulting services in Consortium with Aqwadem Consulting (Turkey) for IPPF North Macedonia – Baseline Assessment, Initial Scoping And Financial Options Study for Four Regions, whereas Aim Texas is the Lead Consultant.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the “EBRD” or the “Bank”) is actively involved in the various infrastructure sectors in North Macedonia including the municipal sector. The Government and the EBRD now focus on exploring opportunities for developing projects in the solid waste sector with an emphasis on the Southeast Region, the Southwest Region, the Pelagonia Region and the Vardar Region (the “Regions”).

The four regions together cover 59% of the country’s total area. The current status of waste management in the Regions is very poor due to a number of interconnected causes at the sector level. The Government now envisions investments to improve the solid waste infrastructure in the Regions and seeks the most appropriate financing structure for this project.
In the light of the country and sector strategies, the EBRD supports the Government’s endeavor to facilitating private sector players’ entering the conventional municipal services, in this case, solid waste management.
Republic of North Macedonia is a landlocked country in the middle of the southern Balkan Peninsula with an area of 25,713 km2. It is a small, open economy well integrated into international trade, with a gross domestic product of US$11.33 billion as of 2017.

The country has approx. 2.1 million inhabitants and a population density of 80.7 inhabitants per km2. The territorial distribution of the country’s population is uneven. Some 57 per cent of the population live in urban areas, mainly in the five largest cities: in the capital Skopje (population of 327.6 thousand), Kumanovo (109.3 thousand), Bitola (91.8 thousand), Tetovo (92.0 thousand) and Prilep (75.0 thousand).
Municipal Solid Waste Management (“MSWM”) is organised in planning regions as defined in the Law on Balanced Regional Development. Accordingly, there are 8 MSWM planning regions: Vardar, Eastern, Southwestern, Pelagonia, Polog, Northeastern, Skopje as well as Southeastern region. The subject of this Terms of Reference (“ToR”) is Southeastern region, Southwestern region, Pelagonia and Vardar regions.

The objectives of this assignment are twofold:

• Perform a study for the SE region and
• Perform a single study for SW, Pelagonia and Vardar regions.