OREANDA-NEWS. November 01, 2008. The EBRD is providing the third major long-term financing for municipal transport in the city of Kiev. Kievdorservice, the municipal traffic management agency will receive a EUR 15 million loan for an integrated traffic management system in this city of 2.7 million residents where traffic volumes are rising fast, reported the press-centre of EBRD.

This transaction will complement investments already being made in modernisation of public transport systems, to which the Bank committed EUR 100 million in 2007.

The loan will finance a package of information technology-based traffic management systems to deliver congestion relief to Kiev motorists along the busiest transport corridors leading into the city centre.

The city of Kiev will improve automated speed control and enforcement, variable message signage, in-pavement traffic sensors, CCTV, rapid emergency response, and other dynamically control systems. This will allow Kievdorservice to manage traffic more effectively, improve air quality through lower congestion levels, and improve road safety on some 20 km of the city’s main arteries.

Leonid Chernovetsky, the Mayor of Kiev, said the city’s attractiveness as Ukraine’s leading business and investment centre has also placed a higher premium on the quality of city services, such as reliable and efficient roads. “The City’s relationship with EBRD is strong, and this project builds on that solid foundation”, he added.

Vasyl Stous, the Director General of Kievdorservice, welcomes the investment in traffic management, which will help his company deliver on its mandate to the residents of Kiev. “This type of intelligent transportation system will allow us to maximise the use our current road capacity, through enhanced management of information and responsiveness of real-time traffic conditions”, he said.

This new project should support the environmentally sustainable urban transport and improve the overall quality of local transport used by residents and visitors of Kiev, stressed Thomas Maier, EBRD’s Infrastructure Business Director. “The transaction is a sign of confidence by EBRD in the City of Kiev in these difficult times. The project also builds on the EBRD’s capacity to structure innovative infrastructure projects in partnership with municipalities, one that should provide strong demonstration effect to other municipalities in Ukraine and beyond”, he said.

Technical co-operation funds, provided by the governments of France, Finland and Canada, will be used to help Kiev prepare final technical specifications and full tender documentation, on-going implementation support, and to develop Public-Private-Partnership structures to leverage private sector involvement for expanded road infrastructure and parking systems.

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is the biggest financial investor in Ukraine. As of October 2008, it had committed over EUR 3.86 billion through 163 projects.