Chişinău River Rehabilitation and Flood Protection in Moldova
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Introduction
This case study delves into the Green City Action Plan of Chişinău, capital of Moldova developed by
the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) as part of their Green Cities
programme.
The city action plan outlines a mix of green and grey solutions for managing the flood vulnerability of
the city. It also incorporates the river flood management strategies for the river Bîc which flows
through the city. The inclusive adaptation planning approach considering all the stakeholders and a
combination of green, blue and grey infrastructure for adaptation are the main highlights of this
project. The case study also highlights the significance of data in the establishment of evidence and
better adaption planning.
Issues addressed
Chişinău is prone to floods, and the river Bîc that runs through the city makes it even more vulnerable
to flooding. Chişinău has seen numerous floods in recent years. The city has data available on the
economic damage of the recent floods, and the analysis suggests that the frequency of flood events
will rise in the near future.
Brief Description of solution(s)
EBRD is a multilateral development bank providing financial and technical support for private sector as
well as different levels of government in emerging economies. EBRD has a programme called ‘Green
Cities’ which consist of four components; development of Green City Action Plan, investing in
sustainable urban infrastructure, capacity building and trainings, supporting cities to access other
sources of green financing. In 2019, EBRD under the Green Cities programme supported the city of
Chişinău, capital of Moldova to develop its Green City Action Plan. In 2020, the municipal council of
Chişinău formally approved this plan to be their formal investment strategy.
The Green City Action Plan of Chişinău was made inclusively with input from a wide variety of
stakeholders not only city officials but academia, NGOs, local businesses, utility operators through
hosting a series of workshops and also through online survey. The inputs from the stakeholders and
the available data suggested that this plan needs to focus on fixing the climate resilience issue of the
city. So, the action plan was made with one of its objectives to strengthen the urban resilience and
came up with theories of investment measures to address this challenge including the rehabilitation of
the river Bîc which runs through the center of the city. The solutions included grey solutions such as
improvement of storm water drains as well as the green solutions such as sustainable urban drainage
solution throughout the city. The plan also includes the expansion of the catchment area and
development of recreational area around the riverbed. After the action plan was completed, a series
of studies to prepare for the implementation of the proposal were conducted.
Enablers and Barriers
This project is going to be the first project that EBRD is going to support that consist of the nature-based
solution component. EBRD managed to make a good progress in preparing this project because there
are a lot of data available on the economic cost from the recent flood and also there was a good analysis
suggesting that the frequency of the flood event is going to increase in the near future. Preparing
climate adaptation project without these data is challenging because it is not a revenue generating
investment project and also quantifying the benefit is challenging.
In order to scale up the financing in the climate adaptation, there is a need to calculate the avoided cost
of the damage as well as the wide range of social and economic benefits that the project can bring in
order to prove that the benefit can exceed the cost of investment. Especially in the case of nature-based
solutions. In order to do that, good evidence i.e, a good data to support these studies is required. The
initiative done by organizations like CDRI and Global Infrastructure Hub to consolidate all the important
data on infrastructure will aid that.
Additional Information
City Action Plan: https://rb.gy/gywvi
https://www.ebrd.com/news/2023/20-million-financing-package-to-act-against-floods-in-moldovan-
capital.html