By Matthias Hitzel
It was winter in the Caucasus region and an ice storm hit Batumi heavily. The year was 2018 and the overhead electricity lines collapsed, and the city of 250,000 inhabitants, located at the Black Sea coast in Western Georgia, was out of electricity for a full week. As the director of the local television was preparing the agenda for the next day TV news an old thought came up to her mind: For how long people will be out of water? She quickly checked her agenda and realized something strange: nobody mentioned problems with the water supply system – the opposite, people mentioned to be actually impressed that the water supply was continuing! How come? As faster as the thought came up in her mind it faded away. It was an old problem from the difficult not so long ago past when the deteriorated Soviet water supply and wastewater system in Batumi, being fully abandoned, did not function.
Since 2010, everybody in Batumi is supplied with uninterrupted, reliable and high-quality water. The non-functional wastewater treatment plant that released all wastewater untreated into the Black Sea was replaced by an award winning new and modern wastewater treatment plant that purifies the wastewater before it is released to the Black Sea, hence dramatically contributing to the Black Sea water quality and the revival of biodiversity.
The newly established municipal water utility is managing to control and reduce water losses. The MACS consultant statement “the construction of a new infrastructure is easy, compared to operate and maintain the new facilities,” was broadcasted and a new concept of sustainable managing was being introduced in the region. The qualified team of the water utility, Batumi Tskali – Batumi Water - applying modern technologies and following a very clear customer focus did a great job. More than 75% of the water that is produced reaches the citizens now and elevates Batumi on a level of France or the UK.
MACS is assisting the municipality of Batumi and the municipal utility Batumi Tskali since 2005 and alongside an over EUR 160 million investment program in the framework of the German-Georgian Financial Cooperation, through KfW Development Bank and co-financing of the European Union. Broadcast good news makes everybody proud and happy including us, at MACS.
The Republic of Moldova is considered Europe’s poorest and least developed country. Infrastructure and related services of water, sanitation and waste management are hardly developed, particularly in rural areas. Therefore, one of the components of the programme focuses on optimizing water supply, sanitation and waste management. As a flagship project, a water treatment plant will be constructed in Edinet in northern Moldova in the framework of LOCOMO. Additionally, ten to 15 smaller construction projects will improve water infrastructure in schools, daycare centers and other public facilities. Access to renewed infrastructure benefits water suppliers and waste management providers, public authorities, and – most of all – the population in the selected target areas.
The overall objective of the project is to contribute to the implementation of Moldova’s strategic goals in the areas of sustainable water supply as well as sewage and wastewater treatment. The consortium will provide construction site supervision including all duties and authorities of the Engineer in accordance with regulation as well as to develop capacities within the involved utilities in order to ensure proper operation and maintenance as well as financial sustainability of the new infrastructure and setup.
MACS is participating in a consortium with Posch & Partners Consulting Engineers as Site Superision Consultant, while MACS implements the capacity development component within the construction project, specifically focusing on the provision of Operation and Maintenance trainings for the newly constructed facilities, as well as the overall improvement of human resource capital and utility efficiency.
Matthias has a degree in agricultural science and postgraduate honors in rural development and more than 20 years of professional experience in international development projects. At MACS he developed into a prolific Project Manager and Institutional Expert as well as Team Leader who played a major role during the very successful rehabilitation program for water and sanitation in Batumi (Georgia).
In the field of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Matthias has developed a profile for himself and MACS through his work of coordinating the finance division for energy projects in the framework of the Green for Growth Fund (GGF), which has earned a reputation as one of the leading EE/RE funds today.
As one of the Partners and Managing Directors of MACS, Matthias is responsible for operations and financial management at MACS.