A preliminary feasibility study for the construction of an electrified railroad section, Chisinau-Ungheni, with European gauge will be developed by the end of this year.
The Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development announced this, noting that it was discussed during the 6th meeting of the Steering Committee for the Integration of EU-Ukraine-Moldova Transport Systems, held in Košice (Slovakia), which was attended by State Secretary Mircea Pascaluta along with colleagues from Ukraine, Romania, as well as representatives of EU countries and the European Commission. The topics discussed were the current and future projects financed by the Connecting Europe Facility (CEF), transport investments, railway sector reforms, the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T). In the context of the expansion of the TEN-T networks, the European Commission presented the coordinators of each corridor to identify their segmented development priorities and specific measures to be implemented. The main message of the participants was the need to increase throughput capacity of Ukrainian cargoes by rail. Moldova's significant efforts to rehabilitate and modernize its railway infrastructure, especially the Valcinet-Balti-Ungheni-Chisinau-Cainari corridor, were highlighted. Also on the agenda of the discussions was the project for the construction of an electrified railroad corridor Chisinau-Ungheni with European gauge. It was noted that with the support of JASPERS, the technical advisory service of the European Investment Bank, a pre-feasibility study will be elaborated by the end of this year, which will also include elements of conceptual design for the development of this project. During the meeting, representatives from Hungary, Poland and Slovakia presented the stages of development of European rail networks, the financing, planning, control and management models used and the lessons to be learned in the process. Continuous efforts to rehabilitate road infrastructure, as well as the progress of the 3 CEF 2022-funded road infrastructure rehabilitation projects were other topics touched upon by the officials. State Secretary of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development Mircea Pascaluta noted that, based on the current geopolitical situation, a new approach is needed, both to the implementation of projects and to the utilization of existing ones, based on a broad regional vision with the cooperation of partners at every stage. //25.04.2024 - InfoMarket.
