As professionals, we can provide a better service

The Veolia Voda group now controls forty percent of the Czech water management market. It has based its presence solely on long-term lease of networks in Prague, Plzeň and České Budějovice as well as in central Moravia. "This operating model for waterworks is in use on seventy percent of the Czech territory. We really do not want to own the infrastructure, " says Ota Melcher, director of Středomoravská vodárenská from the Veolia Voda group. As of today, the company will add the Prostějov waterworks to its Olomouc operations in the region.

Why does Veolia always choose to lease?

The model has proven itself worldwide. Veolia Voda is continuing the tradition of the original French company, Compagnie Generale des Eaux, which has been providing this sort of services for municipalities worldwide for over 150 years. The proven model is that the municipality as the owner determines the shape of the infrastructure, how it develops and what the prices are. A professional firm then provides the operation. It makes use of the fact that it is a member of a large group and, as such, it can procure supplies of materials and various services at discount prices. This brings benefits to both the operator and the owner.

But no company would enter into a long-term lease without the prospect of making profit. What does Veolia profit from?

We can perform the operation more efficiently. What we spend on one-time basis upon project commencement we will regain throughout the entire long-term contract.

You have been present in Olomouc since 2000. What have you brought the city as a strategic partner?

Vodohospodářská společnost and the municipality of Olomouc faced the problem of obtaining funds to invest in water management infrastructure. Thanks to affordable loans provided by Středomoravská vodárenská over the first four years, Vodohospodářská společnost received CZK 200 million and the city also received the same amount. We invested another 120 million in the wastewater treatment plant. The city addressed dozens of required investment projects, from small replacements in water mains and sewers in the streets to large projects such as the completion and retrofit of the sewer network that is currently underway.

Will the people of Prostějov notice immediately that the operator of the municipal waterworks has changed?

Perhaps not immediately, but we hope that customers in the Prostějov region will notice that as professionals, we can provide a better service, within several months and years.

You undertook in the agreement to invest 230 million crowns in the Prostějov area. Do you know now where and in what you will be investing?

The owner decides. But our joint objective is to ensure that the infrastructure meets European standards. Another project that presents itself - but has not been decided on yet - is addressing the shortage of water in the Prostějov area. The current Olomouc supply system has a great surplus. The solution will require investment in the connection of the Křelov reservoir, which supplies water to the Olomouc area, with Stráž, which provides water for the Prostějov area; but this way, the Olomouc system could furnish the Prostějov network with water.