OREANDA-NEWS. August 30, 2013. As it was informed at the Permanent Mission of EBRD in Moldova, the tender will run till October 8. On the same day (at 16:00) envelopes with the bids will be opened. The trolleys will be supplied within 28 weeks from the advance payment. Any company that meets certain minimum criteria is allowed to participate.

In particular, the minimum average annual turnover of the potential bidders should be 20 million euro over the last 3 years, they should have 3 year experience of successful delivery of at least 200 new trolleys of any models, experience in manufacturing and supply of minimum 100 trolleybuses of the required model, experience in manufacturing and supply abroad of at least 25 trolleybuses of the required model for the last 5 years, have a certificate of quality management system (ISO 9000 or its equivalent).

Tender documents can be acquired for 5 thousand lei (or the equivalent in foreign currency). As InfoMarket has informed before, the total project cost for the purchase of 23 new low-floor trolleybuses for Balti is estimated at 4.6 million euro. Loan provided by EBRD amounts to 3 million euro, allocated for 12 years at 5.5% p.a. with 2-year grace period of payment. In addition to the loan, European Union has allocated a grant of 1.6 million euro. In addition, the Bank intends to attract donors’ technical assistance in the amount of 0.4 million euro to help the Balti Trolleybus park in implementation of the project, strengthen the company's management and implement best practices in the corporate governance.

Earlier, Balti Mayor Vasilii Panciuc noted that implementation of EBRD project will enable to update more than 70% of the trolley park, greatly improve passenger service, increase operating efficiency and serve more passengers. Balti Trolleybus Park was established in 1972. It should be noted that in 2011 City Hall of Chisinau, assisted by EBRD, the European Investment Bank and European Union has acquired 102 trolleys from the Belarusian Company "Belkommunmash", which won the international tender.

The total cost of the project amounted to 13 million euro. In particular, the EBRD and EIB allocated 5 million euro each and 3 million euro was granted by EU. Subsequently, the mayor of Chisinau and the management of "Belkommunmash" agreed to jointly assemble Belarusian trolleybuses in the capital of Moldova, which was launched in July 2012. Moldova became a member of EBRD on May 5, 1992.

The Bank is one of the largest investors in Moldova. So far 100 investment projects for Moldova totaling 897 million euro, which cover the areas of energy, transport, agriculture, general industry and banking sector have been signed.