The project was financed by the Swiss Contribution with an amount of 4.1 million Swiss francs, whilst Hungary provided 15% of the project costs. The construction works commenced in August 2015 and showed a remarkable progress in the past year including additional works realized from additional funds available thanks to exchange rate gains.

As a result of this project, the most critical elements of the water supply network in Balassagyarmat and its surroundings have been rehabilitated, such as 11 km of transportation mains in the outer city areas and 9 km of mains in the inner city. The city of Balassagyarmat thus has a reliable and safe water supply system with water of good quality, far less network breakdowns, much reduced water losses and lower maintenance cost. This project had a broader impact as well contributing to a sustainable water management in the region.

Lajos Medvácz, Mayor, Peter Burkhard, Ambassador of Switzerland to Hungary, Mihály Balla, Member of Parliament and Max Schnellmann, Head of the Swiss Contribution Office attended the ceremony and addressed the press conference.

Participants could also take a site visit following the track of the reconstructed pipelines.