European Investment Bank lending to transport projects in Romania has reached EUR 1 billion, following signature of two additional loans with the Government totalling EUR 273 million for motorway and urban transport schemes:
- EUR 210 million will be used by Romania's National Road Administration (NAR) for the completion of new motorway sections totalling 113 km on the Pan-European Corridor IV between Bucharest and Constanta
- EUR 63 million will go to Regia Autonoma de Transport - Bucuresti (RATB) to finance the rehabilitation and upgrading of some 80 km of tram tracks.
The EIB, the European Union's financing arm, provided its first loans for projects in Romania in 1991 and has since lent some EUR 1.4 billion, of which more than EUR 1 billion for transport projects. Road and motorway projects are being supported with EUR 570 million, railroads with 200 million, urban transport with 172, the air traffic infrastructure with 40 million and ports with 35 million.
The various traffic modes in Romania will have to cope with a growing mobility in an enlarged European Union. The transport improvement schemes financed by the EIB will mean more safety and comfort for travellers on axes of Romanian and European importance.
Since 1990, the EIB has lent over EUR 10 billion to projects in twelve Central European countries: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Romania, Bulgaria, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Albania.
(1) 1 EUR = 1.95583 DEM, 0.647500 GBP, 17,559.9 ROL.