The Romanian environment and energy sector - An introduction by the Royal Danish Embassy

Romania suffers - even for Eastern European standards - from extensive problems in the energy and environmental sector. This is due mainly to the industrial development process during 40 years of communism, involving energy-intensive industries such as the chemical, metallurgy and cement industries and the development of densely populated areas. None of these developments were followed by an environmental strategy of the communist regime. The public investment over the past twelve years has not been adequate to close the gap that 40 years of communism left. The goal of EU-membership in 2007 means that the efforts towards closing the gap have to be intensified. This has given a new impetus to the environmental reforms in Romania. Especially improving the quality of the drinking water, handling wastewater, improving the efficiency of the district heating system, waste disposal and management, reducing air pollution as well as and improving efficiency in the electricity sector requires big public investments. These major challenges offer good opportunities for Danish companies in these areas. Furthermore, also the private companies will have to make major investments in order to meet especially environmental requirements. Due to the EU-accession process and agreements with IMF, the World Bank and others good possibilities for international financing of projects exist. From the EU alone Romania will receive over EUR 2.5 billions in the period from 2004 to 2007. This report will give the Danish investor, consultant, or subcontractor, interested in the Romanian environmental and energy sector, a basis for evaluating the opportunities in this promising sector of the Romanian economy. (au)