ISPA is the name of the pre-accession programme financed by the European Commission intended for countries candidates for the EU accession. ISPA is abbreviation of English name Instrument for Structural Policies for Pre-Accession. ISPA assists candidate countries in their preparation for EU accession through co-financing infrastructural projects in the area of environmental protection and transport. This programme prepares the candidate country for absorption of the Cohesion fund after the EU accession (the Cohesion fund is a financial mechanism intended for the EU member countries in the area of transport and environmental protection).

The main priorities of the ISPA programme are to help the candidate countries to:

• get introduced to the EU policy and procedures,
• reach EU environmental protection standards,
• expand and connect trans-European transportation networks.

When the environmental protection is concerned, which is the objective of Karlovac ISPA, candidate countries need to undertake very important investments in order to implement the overall legislation of the EU in environmental protection and to reach its environmental protection standards. In this moment, ISPA is focused on the “harshest” environmental regulations, which are expensive to be implemented: water supply/ waste water management, waste management, air pollution control and industrial pollution control.

Three infrastructural projects are being co-financed by the ISPA project in Croatia:

1. Reconstruction of the railroad Vinkovci – Tovarnik (transport);
2. Water supply and waste water development programme of the City of Karlovac (environmental protection);
3. Regional waste treatment centre in Bikarac (environmental protection).

The total value of co-financing by ISPA is 60 million Euros (out of which 50% is allocated for transport  and the other 50% for environmental projects), while the remaining value of the projects is being financed from national and other sources.

The final beneficiary of Karlovac ISPA project is Vodovod i kanalizacija d.o.o. (ViK) Karlovac.

Karlovac ISPA is a very complex project, consisting of several different segments. They are all directed towards improving water supply and sewerage of the City of Karlovac, through the construction of new infrastructure and through more efficient management of the overall system (because those two things go hand in hand).