EIB to provide Ukraine with EUR 450 mln loan for road construction

The financing will increase safety and help modernise parts of the network included in the extended Trans-European Network for Transport (TEN-T), which links the country internationally and to the EU in particular, according to a press release on the EIB’s website.

The project consists of two parts:

1. Construction of a new 23 km long northern motorway bypass in Lviv – the largest city in western Ukraine with over one million inhabitants. The bypass, from which drivers of 20 000 vehicles a day are expected to benefit – will connect Lviv with the Kyiv – Chop international highway and the Lviv – Lutsk national road. It will provide a link with the Lviv – Rava Ruska, Lviv – Krakovets and Lviv – Shehyni international highways on the route from Ukraine to Poland and further to Western Europe. 

2. Upgrade of the existing 314 km section of the M05 highway along the Kyiv-Odesa line, in the Cherkasy, Kirovohrad, Mykolaiv and Odesa regions. This is the main north-south road connection from Kyiv towards the Black Sea ports, which is varyingly used by 10 000 to 25 000 vehicles daily, depending on the section.   

The borrower of the EIB loan is Ukraine, while the project promoter is the State Road Agency Ukravtodor. The project will be co-financed by the European Investment Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Construction works will start in 2020 and the project is envisaged to be completed by 2025.

The EU bank’s lending commitment supporting Ukraine’s transport infrastructure, including the current loan, amounts to some EUR 2 billion since the launch of the Bank’s lending in the country in 2007. This represents one third of the total EIB lending commitment in Ukraine (approximately EUR 6bn).

The financial agreement with the European Investment Bank and the memorandum with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development were signed by Prime Minister of Ukraine Oleksiy Honcharuk in London.

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