EU to invest 32 mln euro in Moldovan cross-border rail line upgrade

CHISINAU. Nov 12 (Interfax) - The European Union will invest 32 million euro in the reconstruction of a 375-kilometer section of the Moldovan railroad, which follows the itinerary of the North-South railway corridor, the EU Delegation to Moldova said on Tuesday.

To implement the CFM (Moldovan Railway) project, Moldova signed a contract with Greece's Obermeyer Hellas and Germany's DB Engineering & Consulting, which both won a tender and will provide the auxiliary service of supervising the reconstruction work to facilitate Moldova's integration with Europe's transportation networks.

The project is part of the EU's Solidarity Corridors initiatives and aims to boost export, import and transit of goods between Romania, Ukraine and Moldova.

For the project to be implemented the Moldovan parliament earlier ratified a 23 million euro loan agreement with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), a 41.2 million euro financing agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB) and a 18.2 million euro amendment to the EBRD loan agreement.

The 150 million euro upgrade project will be funded by the EBRD, EIB and EU, CFM said in October.