Reference

This directive was drafted by the Russian Ministry of Finance.

Under the agreement between the Russian Federation and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (hereinafter referred to as “IBRD”) on a loan to finance the Second Project to Modernise and Reequip Roshydromet’s (Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring) Facilities and Organisations (hereinafter referred to as “Agreement” or “Project”), Russia shall receive a $60 million loan with a term of 18 years, including a five-year grace period. The loan shall be serviced and paid off from the federal budget.

Under a Russian Government decision, the Russian delegation held talks with IBRD on contracting the loan to finance the Project.

The Project is aimed at strengthening Roshydromet’s capacity to deliver reliable and timely weather, hydrological, and climate information to the Russian public and the economic sector and enhance Russia’s capacity to integrate into the global system of meteorological services.

The Project structure and financing sources have been outlined in the draft Agreement as agreed during the talks.

The Project is expected to be implemented in five years.

The Project’s total cost is equal to US $139.6 million, including a loan of US $60 million from IBRD (43% of the Project’s total cost). Co-financing from the Federal Government is budgeted at US $79.6 million (57% of the Project’s total cost).

Funding for the Project was factored into Federal Law No. 349-FZ of 2 December 2013 On the Federal Budget for 2014 and the Planning Period of 2015 and 2016.

The loan shall be serviced and paid off from the federal budget after the Agreement comes into force, including the payment to IBRD of a one-time fee in the amount of 0.25% of the loan amount.

The Project has four key components:

1. Strengthening the Information Communication Technology Infrastructure and Systems Delivering Weather, Climate, and Hydrological Data and Information to Consumers ($45.4 million). This component will strengthen the scientific and technical capacity for operational hydrometeorological forecasting, support research on climate and climate change, improve access to observation data, archive systems and products of Roshydromet’s internal and external consumers.

2. Observation System Upgrades ($73.6 million). The main objective of this component is to modernise the hydrological observation system in the Volga river basin and replace outdated observation equipment with state-of-the-art measurement equipment in the key parts of Roshydromet’s observation system.

3. Institutional and Regulatory Strengthening and Improvement of Service Delivery to Consumers and Better Preparedness for Emergencies ($13.95 million). The objective of this component is to improve the performance of Roshydromet services in line with international experience, capacity building of operational and research staff, reequip regional training centres, improve service delivery and ensure better preparedness for emergency situations, create stationary and mobile hydrometeorological situational centres and their deployment in the regions to increase their preparedness for emergencies and for coordinated mitigation measures.

4. Project Management ($6.55 million). This component will finance the provision of consulting services regarding the Project’s systems integrator, Project team operations, procurement in compliance with IBRD rules, audit services, and the translation of Project documents.

IBRD’s involvement in the Project is underpinned by the possibility to use consulting and analytical support of IBRD employees during the Project, including access to best practices in modernising and upgrading the national hydrometeorological services, which is expected to ensure, in line with IBRD standards and rules, that efforts are coordinated with other projects to modernise national meteorological services in neighbouring countries and that their technical and organisational solutions are compatible.

The Project is expected to facilitate the implementation of the Strategy for Activities in Hydrometeorology and Related Areas until 2030 (with due consideration for climate change), as approved by Russian Government Directive No.1458-r of 3 September 2010, and is aimed at modernising and reequipping the national observation network, systems for collecting, processing, analysing and delivering hydrometeorological products and information on climate change to consumers.