ROMANIA: The European Investment Bank is providing a €265·6m loan to finance upgrades to increase speed, reliability, comfort and accessibility on București’s tram network, which carries around 500 000 people a day.
The city will use the financing to renovate around 50 km of track, purchase 63 trams and upgrade Colentina depot by 2030.
‘București needs big investments in the tram network, it is over 50 years old and it is no longer efficient’, Mayor Ciprian Ciucu said when the agreement was signed on April 20.
The financing is part of a €300m EIB loan to support a broader €1·3bn programme to improve urban transport and reduce the carbon footprint of energy supplies including district heating in the metropolitan area of more than 2 million people.
EIB has provided advisory support for project preparation in a combined approach designed to speed up implementation while lowering costs.
‘This investment marks an important step in București’s transformation into a greener, more future-ready city’, said EIB Vice-President Ioannis Tsakiris.’We are proud to support projects that deliver lasting impact for both people and the environment.’