At the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdansk, Poland, Nefco and Ukrainian municipalities, signed a series of new grant agreements to support the rehabilitation of essential municipal infrastructure related to energy efficiency, water supply, and wastewater management. The projects will be grant financed by Denmark through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Impact Fund Denmark. The communities will in addition provide own financing from respectively city budgets for the project implementations.
These new projects cover investments across several cities in the Mykolaiv region, including the City of Mykolaiv, and focus on energy-efficient rehabilitation of public hospitals and schools, water supply, and improved wastewater treatment. The aim is to make the cities livable by restoring vital municipal services in these communities and to strengthen their capacity to continue delivering reliable services for citizens while upgrading critical infrastructure to meet modern environmental standards and withstand ongoing disruptions.
Across the region, years of underinvestment and war damage to infrastructure and long-standing system inefficiencies have made it difficult to ensure consistent access to clean water supply, healthcare and other basic services for the Ukrainian’s living in these communities. At the same time, untreated wastewater continues to pose environmental challenges and public health risks.
These Danish-financed investments will support the communities to:
- restore access to critical services such as healthcare, education and clean water supply
- improve reliability of key municipal services under conditions of instability and power shortages
- reduce discharges and decrease environmental pressure on Inhul and Pivdennyi Buh rivers and ecosystems
- strengthen municipalities’ capacity to operate and maintain a resilient infrastructure in extremely challenging conditions
These projects respond to very concrete needs in the Mykolaiv region: access to clean water, functioning wastewater treatment systems and reliable public services. By combining restoration with modern, energy-efficient solutions, we are helping municipalities rebuild essential services to support the communities to address urgent needs now and to become more sustainable over time.
Part of Denmark’s long-term support to Mykolaiv region
These new projects form part of Denmark’s continued support to Ukraine, with a strong geographical focus on the Mykolaiv region.
Through Nefco, Danish funding targets key sectors essential for daily life and recovery, including:
- water supply and sanitation
- energy supply and heating systems
- public buildings such as hospitals, schools, and municipal service facilities
The support contributes to strengthening local resilience while promoting environmentally sustainable solutions and aiming at alignment with EU standards, in close collaboration with Danish partners, Nefco, and the Ukrainian communities.
Denmark is committed to supporting Ukraine’s recovery in a way that strengthens both resilience and sustainability. These projects help ensure that communities can rely on functioning infrastructure while laying the groundwork for a long-term green recovery.
Six new projects restoring essential infrastructure
The projects signed at the Ukraine Recovery Conference address urgent infrastructure gaps across municipalities in the Mykolaiv region, where infrastructure systems are outdated or partially non-functional. Many of the investments also include energy-efficiency measures and backup power solutions to ensure reliable service continuity. In total these new projects include EUR 26.6 million in grant financing from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark and EUR 3 million in grant financing from Impact Fund Denmark.
By supporting concrete investments at municipal level, we contribute to solutions that are both modern and scalable. These projects demonstrate how targeted support can translate into lasting improvements for Ukrainian communities.
- Bashtanka: Construction of a wastewater treatment plant alongside improvements to the water network, enhancing sanitary conditions and reducing pollution. Grant funding EUR 5.5 million from MFA Denmark, total project value approx. EUR 6 million.
- Novyi Buh: Development of a new wastewater treatment system to get the wastewater treatment plant operational and eliminate long-standing environmental challenge with untreated discharges. No functioning wastewater treatment plant has been operating in the community for several decades. Grant funding EUR 5.5 million from MFA Denmark, total project value EUR 6.6 million.
- Nova Odesa: Re-establishing continuous water supply with improved water quality and reduced losses, ensuring reliable daily access to clean water and supporting sustainable usage of groundwater. Grant funding approx. EUR 4.5 million from MFA Denmark, total project value approx. EUR 5 million.
- Pervomaisk: Rehabilitation of a maternity hospital with energy-efficiency upgrades, backup energy storage and shelter facilities, enabling reliable healthcare services. Grant funding of approx. EUR 5.6 million from MFA Denmark, total project value EUR 6.2 million.
- Voznesensk: Energy-efficiency modernisation of a public hospital and school, improving quality of services and ensuring more stable energy supply for patients and schoolchildren. Grant funding EUR 5.5 million from MFA Denmark, total project value approx. EUR 6 million.
- Mykolaiv: Investments in municipal services, including sustainable and reduced energy supply for public transport and comprehensive energy-efficiency upgrades of a preschool, improving services for vulnerable groups in the community. Fully grant financed with approx. EUR 3 million from Impact Fund Denmark.
Furthermore, a Memorandum of Understanding has been signed between Nefco and the Mykolaiv Regional State Military Administration, establishing a framework for cooperation to support green, resilient, and sustainable recovery and development of the Mykolaiv region through jointly developed projects and knowledge exchange.
Together, the projects will have a significant environmental impact by reducing eutrophication in water bodies across the Mykolaiv region, while also delivering substantial health benefits to citizens by providing clean drinking water to almost 6,000 people. Project implementation is expected to run from 2026 to 2029.
By restoring core infrastructure and integrating more efficient, modern, and sustainable solutions, the projects will help ensure that recovery efforts translate into tangible improvements for the Ukrainian people in their everyday life while strengthening institutional capacity and supporting a long-term green transition in the communities.
Managing Director and Co-head of Public Infrastructure Finance
Annemette Ditlevsen
+45 33 41 12 41
