MINSK, 3 December (BelTA) – The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will earmark €259 million to rehabilitate 12 bridges and M3 Road in Belarus. An appropriate credit agreement was signed following a meeting between Belarus Prime Minister Sergei Rumas and EBRD First Vice President Jurgen Rigterink in Minsk on 3 December, BelTA has learned.
The first tranche of €126 million will be spent on the reconstruction and modernization of 12 bridges. It is expected that the reconstruction could begin as early as 2020 after the necessary procedures are completed, Belarus' Transport and Communications Minister Aleksei Avramenko told the media.
The second tranche of €133 million is intended to modernize M3 Road connecting Minsk and Vitebsk. These funds will be used to reconstruct the 47-kilometer section of the road.
The length of the road network in Belarus is about 87,000km, including international transport corridors 2 and 9 connecting EU member states with Russia, Central Asia and China. They also connect the Baltic countries with the Black Sea.
“Development of the transit capacity and enhancing the connectivity in Belarus will contribute significantly to the country's economic growth prospects, trade and key infrastructure. The funds allocated for this project under the technical cooperation program are provided by the EBRD Shareholder Special Fund and Italy as part of the Central European Initiative,” the EBRD informed.
The EBRD is a multilateral bank fostering the development of the private sector and entrepreneurship initiatives. The bank's shareholders are 69 countries, as well as the European Union and the European Investment Bank. The EBRD is the largest institutional investor in the Belarusian economy. Since the start of its operations in Belarus in 1992, the EBRD has invested almost €2.7 billion in 119 projects in various sectors of the country's economy.
