EBRD to provide funding for expanding, modernizing urban transport in Balti municipality

Chisinau, 3 June /MOLDPRES/- The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will provide a 2.5 million euro- loan that will be supplied with a grant of 1.2 million euros from the E5P multilateral fund for expansion and modernization of urban transport in Balti. 10 new trolleybuses will be purchased and network infrastructure improved from funding.

According to a press release of EBRD, Balti residents will benefit from more environmentally friendly and energy-efficient public transport. The project will be carried out by the Municipal Trolleybus Directorate in Balti.

The new trolleybuses will operate under new battery technology, which will allow vehicles to move in more distant areas without the use of overhead electric wires.

The project will also help expand existing trolleybus routes to serve densely populated areas and improve overall service efficiency. In addition, the loan will finance the rehabilitation of the old power supply infrastructure and the purchase of maintenance equipment.

The city will also receive additional non-reimbursable funds from the EBRD to support the technical implementation of the project and to develop a sustainable public transport plan.

The new EBRD and E5P funds are being offered as a result of the successful completion of the previous project to renew the trolleybus park in Balti in 2012-2014. Then the city acquired 23 modern trolley buses, spare parts, power supply infrastructure components and other equipment. The modernisation was funded by a 3 million euro- EBRD loan and a 1.6 million euro-investment grant from the European Commission's Neighborhood Investment Facility.

Active in Moldova and other Eastern Partnership countries, E5P is funded by the European Union, as the largest donor, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, Norway, Moldova, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic, Sweden.

As part of the new project, the EBRD will provide support to Balti municipality authorities in working out an action plan for a green city. It is part of the Green Cities Bank program, or Green Cities, and aims to identify and prioritize environmental issues and find solutions to them. Balti becomes the 29th participant city of the program worth 1 billion euros. Chisinau joined the program in 2016.

EBRD is the largest institutional investor in the Republic of Moldova. So far, the bank has invested nearly 1.3 billion euros in the country, in about 130 projects in banking sector, sustainable infrastructure, trade and agri-food industry.