The European Investment Bank (EIB) signed today a EUR 70 million first tranche of its EUR 160 million approved loan to the City of Belgrade for the construction of access roads to the new Sava Bridge in the Serbian capital Belgrade. Furthermore, the Bank lent EUR 45 million to two Serbian banks to finance indirectly smaller and medium sized projects promoted by SMEs and local authorities in Serbia.
EIB Vice-President Scannapieco, responsible for lending operations in Serbia stated: “This loan to the City of Belgrade is the first time EIB funds are provided directly to a city in the Western Balkans. This loan will help improve the transport infrastructure in the capital of Serbia in terms of capacity, safety and environmental impact. The EIB loans to Erste Bank and to Piraeus Bank will help reduce the impact of the global economic crisis in Serbia by improving the access of SMEs and local authorities to medium and long-term funds on advantageous financial terms.”
The Sava Bridge project is co-financed with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) as a part of the Western Balkans Investment Framework that pools and coordinates different sources of finance and leverages loans with grants for projects representing a priority for the Western Balkans.
This project consists of the construction of a new cable-stayed bridge over the Sava River providing an additional crossing point for traffic between Novi Beograd and the central areas of Belgrade and new road sections linking Tosin Bunar St., north of the Sava River, with the Hippodrome Interchange, south of the river. The new bridge and its connecting roads constitute the first phase and at the same time the most significant element of the first section of Belgrade’s Inner City Semi-Ring Road. This new transport infrastructure will provide increased capacity and safety of importance both for local and long distance transit traffic and a new light rail line.
The Bank also provided two loans of EUR 25 million to Erste Bank a.d. Novi Sad and EUR 20 million to Piraeus Bank a.d. Beograd. These loans will co-finance small and medium-sized projects promoted mainly by SMEs and local authorities in the areas of industry, transport, environmental protection, energy and energy savings, infrastructure including health care and education facilities, services, tourism or other projects enhancing the knowledge-based economy.
Background:
The priority objective of the EIB, the European Union’s bank, is to contribute to the integration, balanced development and economic and social cohesion of the Member States. Outside the Union, the EIB implements the financial components of agreements concluded under European development aid and cooperation policies.
The EIB has been active in the Western Balkans since 1977 and is today the largest international investor in this region. Over the past nine years, the Bank financed projects totalling EUR 5.8 billion in the Western Balkans. Out of this amount, the EIB’s lending commitment in Serbia since 2000 comes to EUR 2.7 billion. EIB lending in this country is strongly increasing: in 2009 alone, EIB loan signatures in Serbia to date have reached a record level of some EUR 900 million.