Important railway segment to be rehabilitated in Moldova

Chisinau, 3 December /MOLDPRES/ - The railway segment, Bender-Causeni-Basarabeasca-Etulia-Giurgiulesti, the most agglomerated railway segment of Moldova, which provides the transit of goods from Romania, Ukraine and Russia, is to be rehabilitated.    

The project on the railway segment’s modernization will be carried out from sources provided by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), European Investment Bank (EIB) and the European Union. The parliament today approved, in the first reading, a draft on the ratification of the amendment to the agreement on loan between Moldova and EBRD for the carrying out of the project on the procurement of locomotives and restructuring of the railway infrastructure.     

The amendment provides for the increase in the component for the rehabilitation of the railway infrastructure from 27.5 million euros up to 51 million euros. The concerned investments are important for perspectives of improving the situation at the Railway of Moldova (CFM) state enterprise and in the field of the railway transport, on the whole, the note to the draft reads.

Also today, the MPs approved, in the first reading, the draft on ratification of another amendment to the agreement on loan with EBRD, which sees the endowment of CFM with new locomotives for the freight transport. In accordance with this technical amendment, in the text of the agreement, the multifunctional locomotives meant for the towing of passenger and freight carriages are replaced by the ones for the towing of freight carriages.   

”The locomotives for the freight transport are stronger and give possibility to tow longer and heavier trains than the multifunctional ones. Also, the term of their exploitation is twice longer,’’ Deputy Prime Minister, Infrastructure and Regional Development Minister Andrei Spinu said in the parliament’s plenum.   

The agreement on loan between Moldova and EBRD for the carrying out of the project on the procurement of locomotives and restructuring the railway infrastructure was signed on 14 November 2014. Its value is of 52.5 million euros, including the first installment (25 million euros for the purchasing of locomotives) and the second installment (27.5 million euros meant for rehabilitating the railway infrastructure). The loan was provided for a repayment period of 15 years.    

Both drafts are to be approved in the final reading.

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