Moldova will receive additional 24 million euros from the EIB for railway infrastructure development and the total amount of the loan for this purpose will reach 74 million euros.
This is provided for by the draft ratification of the agreement on amendments to the financial agreement between Moldova and the European Investment Bank on railway infrastructure and rolling stock of Moldova of September 26, 2016, signed in Chisinau on December 17, 2021, adopted by the Parliament in the first reading. As Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development Andrei Spinu said earlier, the new loan of 24 million euros allocated by the EIB will be used to reconstruct the railroad section between the Bender - Basarabeasca - Etulia - Giurgiulesti railway stations. The operation will be part of an overall EIB investment of 74 million euros allocated for rehabilitation and modernization of railway infrastructure and purchase of locomotives in Moldova under a project also co-financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the EU. Initially the EIB loan amounted to 50 million euros, of which 30 million euros was earmarked for railroad rehabilitation, and 20 million euros for purchase of locomotives. However, after assessing the cost of work and following the results of the tender for the rehabilitation of the Bender-Giurgiulesti railroad section, it was found that the amount planned in the contract for the rehabilitation of this railway infrastructure was not sufficient to implement the project. That is why the amount of the loan from the EIB had to be increased by 24 million euros for the railway infrastructure modernization component; the total amount of the loan for this component will increase to 54 million euros, and the total loan for modernization of railway infrastructure and purchase of locomotives will increase to 74 million euros. If the EIB increases the size of the loan for the modernization of the railway infrastructure by 24 million euros, the financial terms of the loan will not change. The maturity of the loan is 25 years. The interest rate can be chosen from a fixed rate offered by the European Investment Bank on the day of loan disbursement or from a floating rate. The Bender-Giurgiulesti section of the railroad is very important and is the busiest railroad section in our country, ensuring the transit of cargoes from Romania, Ukraine and Russia. // 24.12.2021 - InfoMarket.