SHUKALB is about to wrap up successfully the second year of the Asset Management in Water Utilities of Albania Project and to kick off the third year, which will launch also the Platinum Level, the most advanced level of the asset management program.
During the second year of the Project, there were 19 water utilities participating, with 7 of them in the Silver Level, working on asset registry and network data management, and 12 water utilities in the Gold Level, working on maintenance management. In overall, the major activities and technical assistance provided during this second year of the Project consisted on 3 workshops, 2 technical group trainings, 11 specific trainings with individual utilities, and 23 field visits. A major focus was given to the field visits at water utility premises, which resulted to be a very productive approach. During the field visits, the SHUKALB Project team provided direct technical training to the staff of water utilities, and together with the utility staff they worked intensely on data verification and other practical aspects of the program.
As to the specific progress, the water utilities in Gold Level such as Gramsh, Berat-Kucove, Cerrik, Shkoder and Himare have made significant progres and have already an account on EDAMS MMS software with all the available technical and financial data registered in the system, performing the registration of complains and defects in the network, printing job cards, and continually registering used materials and equipment. The water utilities of Elbasan, Korca, Peqin, Kavaje, Vlore, Sarande, Permet, are working on completing the data to start with the maintenance management procedures. Regarding the water utilities in the Silver Level, Pogradec, Lushnje and Kamez water utilities have already registered all the available data assets and are currently working on data verification and population the assets with attributes in EDAMS software. Also, water utilities of Gjirokaster and Maliq have already registered in EDAMS the water supply network for the urban area and are working on data collection and progressing with the rural areas as well. As for the water utilities of Kruja and Kukes, they are working on the digitalization of the network, georeferencing in AutoCAD and populating with attributes in EDAMS software for some of their urban areas.
As the second phase of the project closes by the end of April 2021, we are ready to start another successful year in May 2021, launching also for the first time the third level of the project, the Platinum Level, for those water utilities which have progressed and advanced with the first two levels. The Platinum Level will be based on modules that will include commercial data management, distribution/NRW management, water quality management, rehabilitation planning, and infrastructure planning. As for the water utilities which have completed the first phase, Silver Level, they will be ready to advance into the Gold Level.