Page 26 - bne IntelliNews newspaper 14 July 2017

Weekly Lists
July 14, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 26
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Infrastructure
Bulgarian cabinet approves MoU with Greece on railway link
The Bulgarian cabinet has approved a draft memorandum of understanding with Greece concerning the development of the railway link Thessaloniki – Kavala – Alexandroupolis – Burgas – Varna – Ruse, a notice on the cabinet’s website said on July 12.
The memorandum regulates the preparatory works and the joint management of the corridor by the two countries. The project envisages the linking of the Danube River, the Black Sea and
the Aegean Sea with a high-speed rail corridor, as well as the development of the ports that are part of the main TEN-T network. The project includes the construction of a double railway line
with implemented European railway traffic management system (ERTMS).
At a meeting on July 6, Moskovski and the Greek Minister of Infrastructure and Transport Christos Spirtzis agreed to expand the project by adding a connection with the Danube port of Ruse (proposed by Bulgaria), as well as the rail link with the port of Thessaloniki (proposed by Greece).
On July 6, the two ministers discussed the establishment of a joint project company, through which Bulgaria and Greece can apply for funding to build and operate the whole corridor together. Moskovski and Spirtzis also discussed aligning the standards for port, rail and multimodal services between the two countries to enable one-stop- shop handling of all documents for the entire corridor.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) will lend €250mn to Georgia to restore road infrastructure. The loan represents the second and last tranche of a €500mn framework loan aimed at rehabilitating some 253 kilometres of primary and secondary roads between 2017 and 2020. Furthermore, the EIB will increase its funding to rehabilitate one of the largest hydropower plants in the world,
the Vardnili-Enguri cascade, by €3.5mn to a total of €23.5mn, the lender said.
The EIB has worked with Georgia for over a decade, during which time it has financed projects worth €1.5bn, many of them in infrastructure and urban development.
EIB lends Georgia €250mn for roadworks