Wastewater Treatment Facilities Worth €11.5 Million to Be Built in Soroca

The Turkish consortium Alke-Turmaks has been selected as the contractor for a project to expand and modernise the sewerage infrastructure in the municipality of Soroca. The contract is worth approximately €11.5 million. Hydroplan/Apcan will provide technical supervision of the works.

The consortium comprises two Turkish companies: ALKE İnşaat, which has operated in the construction and infrastructure sectors since 1955, and TURMAKS, established in 1997 and specialising, among other areas, in construction and healthcare infrastructure.

The contract covers the preparation of the detailed design and the construction of a wastewater treatment plant, two pumping stations — Centre and South — and a sewer collector to transport wastewater to the treatment facility. The contractor will also develop the plant’s internal infrastructure and connect the new facilities to the municipality’s existing sewerage system.

The contract was signed in August 2026. The project is being implemented under the Moldova Water Security and Sanitation Programme. It is carried out by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development through the National Office for Regional and Local Development, in partnership with the North Regional Development Agency and with the support of the World Bank Group.

Comment by the Institute of Danube Research

The construction of modern wastewater treatment facilities in Soroca is significant beyond the modernisation of municipal utilities. Soroca is located directly on the Dniester River; consequently, the quality of wastewater treatment affects the ecological condition of this transboundary river and the security of water use in settlements located downstream.

The project will help reduce the discharge of organic, nutrient and microbiological pollutants into the Dniester. This is particularly important during low-flow periods, when the river’s capacity to dilute pollutants naturally decreases and pressure on aquatic ecosystems increases.

The effectiveness of the investment will depend not only on the completion of construction but also on the treatment technology applied, the proper connection of the municipal sewerage network, systematic laboratory monitoring and the financially sustainable operation of the facility. The modernisation of Soroca’s infrastructure should therefore be regarded as part of the broader Ukrainian-Moldovan policy for protecting the Dniester basin and adapting water management to climate change.