‘Largest’ loan to Ukraine

A loan of € 450 million for the rehabilitation and improvement in the quality of roads in Ukraine from The European Investment Bank (EIB) is said to be its largest loan to date in the Eastern Partner Countries (Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia).

EIB funds will help to improve some 350 km of five sections of highways branching out from the capital Kiev, which are European and national transport corridors and largely on the extended Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T).

The project is being co-financed by the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development (EBRD).

The works, predominantly covering the road corridors connecting Dresden-Katowice-Lviv-Kiev and Moscow-Kiev-Odessa, as well as key national corridors in Ukraine, will be implemented in two phases by Ukravtodor, Ukraine's state roads administration.

EIB vice president Eva Srejber said, "The current project is significant for the further development of the economic co-operation between the European Union and the Eastern Partner Countries. It will upgrade Ukraine's priority transport links with the neighbouring EU Member States, and the adjacent Belarus and Russia.

"It is also a good example of collaboration with the EBRD, our partner financial institution, in implementing important projects of mutual interest to Ukraine and the EU."

This is the second EIB loan provided for the rehabilitation of the Ukrainian road network. A previous loan of € 200 million financed the upgrade of the M-06 road linking Kiev with Hungary, Slovakia and Poland.

The EIB - the European Union's bank - is financing projects in Ukraine on the basis of an EU Council and European Parliament mandate for the Eastern Partner Countries of € 3,7 billion for the period 2007 to 2013.

The current mandate provides for the financing of projects that are of significant interest to both the EU and Eastern Partners in the transport, energy, telecommunications and environmental infrastructure sectors.