Nippon Koei will develop a feasibility study for a project to develop Moldova's rail network to provide a corridor for cargo transportation from Ukraine and the EU and reduce the burden on roads.
With support from Japan's Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Nippon Koei will prepare a pre-feasibility study for the development of Moldova's rail network, including border and customs posts, to identify a priority rail route for cargo transportation from Ukraine to the EU. The railway network will be modernized, adapted to the European gauge, which will strengthen the rail freight corridor between Ukraine and the EU. The team of experts is expected to complete the feasibility study in February 2024. The Customs Service held a meeting with representatives of Nippon Koei, which implements international projects in various fields, including transportation, in connection with the upcoming work. At the meeting with the Customs Service (CS) management, the company's experts presented the general vision, tasks and stages of the feasibility study development. CS representatives, in their turn, stated that since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, there has been registered an overload of automobile customs checkpoints on the Moldovan-Romanian border. This is due to the reorientation of exporters from Ukraine to the European market through transit via Moldova. That is why it is necessary to diversify the way of cargo transportation, and the modernization and expansion of the railway infrastructure will allow increasing the volume of cargoes transported by rail, reducing the waiting time, and will contribute to the unloading of road posts. The Japanese experts were informed about the procedures of customs clearance of goods at import, export and transit, which are applied on the railroad, as well as about the customs control means and measures taken by CS to promote cross-border trade. It was also noted that Moldova's commitment to join the Common Transit Convention, which will improve the quality of services provided to economic agents, increase data security, provide electronic confirmation of transit operation, and reduce costs and delays associated with paper declaration of goods. The online monitoring of transit operations will also reduce the risks of fraud and corruption. Nippon Koei experts will meet with other government agencies and departments, as well as international institutions such as EBRD, EIB, USAID and others. Nippon Koei is a leading international consulting company from Japan that provides engineering solutions through planning, design and construction supervision of infrastructure projects in energy, transportation, resources, urban and public sector development. Since 1946, Nippon Koei has implemented about 5,000 infrastructure projects in 150 countries. // 09.08.2023 - InfoMarket.
