The changes provide for the financing of consulting services necessary to prepare the rehabilitation project for the Velchinets–Ocnita–Balți–Ungheni–Chișinău–Căinari railway section, using loan funds that are already available. This will make it possible to avoid drawing down the third loan tranche.
According to the government’s estimates, this decision will avoid a one-time fee of approximately 182,500 euros, which would have been paid upon drawing down the next loan tranche. Authorities believe this will ensure a more efficient use of the project’s already available financial resources.
The “RLF – Moldovan Railways Crisis Response” (Moldovan Railways Crisis Response) is an infrastructure program aimed at the urgent modernization of railways, the development of transport corridors from Ukraine to the EU, and the strengthening of food security. It includes a large-scale rehabilitation of the North-Center corridor, which stretches over 400 km.
The total cost of the project is 71 million euros, of which the EU has committed 20 million euros in grants and the EBRD has committed 23 million euros in loans. The remaining funds are to be allocated from the budget.
