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Weekly Lists
July 21, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 20
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Infrastructure
NIB helps Latvia finance tram upgrade
The Nordic Investment Bank (NIB) has loaned the Latvian municipal transport company Rigas Satiksme €60mn to upgrade the Latvian capital Riga’s tram and bus fleet and infrastructure.
With the 15-year loan, Rigas Satiksme will purchase 20 new low- floor trams and 10 buses with hydrogen fuel cells as well as invest in related infrastructure, NIB said in a statement. The delivery of trams manufactured by Skoda Transportation is scheduled for 2017.
“We hope this development will increase the comfort level of
the city’s public transportation and help reduce the negative environmental impact of fossil-fuelled road transport in the longer run”, said Henrik Normann, NIB president and CEO.
The main environmental benefit of introducing new trams and hydrogen-fuelled vehicles is the reduced emissions of nitrous oxides and fine particulate matter (PM10), the bank said. The project is also expected to improve the operational efficiency of municipal transport.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) will lend €250mn to Georgia to restore road infrastructure, the multilateral lender said in a press release on July 13.
The EIB has signed a loan agreement with the Georgian government, represented by Finance Minister Dmitri Kumsishvili, to that effect. 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. The project will improve road safety and connectivity in Georgia and the South Caucasus, given that Georgia's East West Highway is part of the Trans-European Transport Network.
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.
After the signing ceremony, Kumsishvili said: “The financial and technical support that we receive from Europe on a daily basis is very important for us. All these steps should ultimately be directed towards rapid completion of infrastructure development in our country that will strengthen Georgia’s transit potential and simplify transportation inside the country.”
EIB lends €250mn to Georgia for road repairs