OREANDA-NEWS. November 19, 2014. The Deputy Minister of Transport and Road Infrastructure of Moldova declared this at the Moldovan-Austrian Economic Forum. During these 7 years the railway facilities of Moldova are going to be completely rehabilitated, he said.

He recalled the loan agreement Moldova and EBRD had recently signed. As InfoMarket reported earlier, Moldova and EBRD singed a EUR 52.5 million loan agreement for modernization of the railway infrastructure. The agreement was signed by Moldova’s Premier Iurie Leanca and EBRD Director for Transport Sue Barrett.

According to Sue Barrett, the loan will come in two tranches. The first one, of EUR 25 million, will be allotted to purchase 10 new locomotives, the second one, of EUR 27.5 million, being spent to rehabilitate the railway infrastructure. Besides, EBRD will provide Moldova with additional EUR 1.75 million to have information systems introduced, etc.

The European Union is co-financing the acquisition of the locomotives through its Neighbourhood Investment Facility (NIF) with a grant of EUR 5 million.