Physical Trade Infrastructure - EBRD

A well-developed transport network is essential to supporting economic growth, market development, and regional integration. The EBRD fosters transition of the transport sector by financing economically viable infrastructure and transport projects. The Bank’s Transport Operations Policy aims to build efficient, reliable and secure transport systems in six lines of transport business: aviation, ports, railways, road transport, shipping, and logistics.

The EBRD continues to cooperate with the EU on the development of the Trans-European Network corridors and implementation of regional initiatives, such as the REBIS (Regional Balkans Infrastructure Study) initiative in the Western Balkans and the TRACECA (Transport Corridor, Europe-Caucasus-Asia) initiative in Central Asia and the Caucasus.

A landmark engagement is the EBRD’s integrated approach to improving transport links in Eastern Europe and the Balkans. In recent years the Bank has invested a total of €845 million in rail and road infrastructure to modernize various parts of Corridor X in Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, and FYR Macedonia. With project costs exceeding €235 million, the construction of the new road in FYR Macedonia is co-financed by the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the EU’s Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance.

For example, the Bank provided a €91 million loan to finance the construction of a modern motorway between the Macedonian towns of Demir Kapija and Smokvica, also part of the Pan-European Corridor X. It is one of the two remaining segments of the 1,451 km route that require upgrading to motorway standard. Modernisation works on the other segment, in Serbia, are underway. With this project, the EBRD and the Macedonian authorities will continue their cooperation for further re-organization of road maintenance and opening up the market to private sector companies.

EBRD’s support also extends to engagements that support freight services, with the objective of reducing CO2 emissions, given the potential of logistics operations to lower energy consumption through optimized networks and upgraded road or shipping fleets. In the past, for example, the Bank supported debt financing for the acquisition and construction of various types of cargo vessels.

For more information: http://www.ebrd.com/transport