Turkey : EUR 55 million EIB support for the Bursa Light Rail Transit System

The European Investment Bank, the European Union's financing institution, is providing EUR 55 million to the Republic of  Turkey, which will onlend the funds to the Bursa Metropolitan Municipality (BMM) for completing the city's light rail transit system. The project concerns primarily the baseline of the network - a route of 21 km of double track with 22 stations, which is subdivided in two sections A and B, related operation and maintenance facilities and a rolling stock fleet. The first section, A with all related structures was recently completed and the truncated system was put into operation. The EIB loan will be for the establishment of section B completing the system's currently missing part in the East of the city.

The Bursa light rail is not just solving transport problems in one of the biggest urban centres in Turkey, it also contributes to the creation of a healthier environment for some 1.2 million inhabitants and to a better enabling environment for further economic development. The project will contribute to improve the quality of service in terms of speed, comfort and reliability of public transport in Bursa and thus enhance the attractiveness of the public mode. This should also help to contain the growth in private car usage and alleviate traffic congestion and related environmental problems, particularly in the central areas of the city.

This urban transport investment in Turkey's fourth largest city is co-financed with Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau (KfW), as well as with commercial banks.

As a candidate country for European Union membership, as well as Mediterranean Partner Country under FEMIP (Facility for EuroMediterranean Investment Partnership), Turkey benefits from the EuroMediterranan Partnership Mandate, as well as from the Pre-accession Facility.

To date, the EIB has supported in Turkey, under both, the Mandates as well as the Pre- Accession Facility, projects of key importance for the country's economy with a total of more than EUR 2.5 billion of loans. Financing was mainly for infrastructure, environment, earthquake reconstruction, foreign direct investment, and the local private sector through global loans. Among the projects supported in Turkey are: the wastewater and effluent treatment systems in Bursa, Adana, Mersin, Diyarbakir, Izmit and Tarsus; the Urban Development Project for the city of Eskisehir; the desulphurisation equipment at the Yeniköy power station on the Aegean coast and the construction of more environment-friendly power and heating plants. In the private sector the EIB has supported flagship FDI projects for Toyota's car manufacturing plant in Adapazari and the Automotive Investment Turkey project.