Bilotserkivska City Council with an expert support from NGO «GoLOCAL» established cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) gaining the loan for the modernization of the electric public transport of the city.
In July 2016, there was a fact-finding visit of specialists of the Bank to the city. During which a meeting with the Mayor, the Deputy Mayor for the city development, the Chief of ME “Trolleybus Management” and a representative of GoLOCAL was held. Bank experts examined the state of trolleybus infrastructure and declared the interest of the EBRD to accede the project.
Within the meeting the following decisions were made regarding the frame of the project:
- Create a concept of city’s public transport development;
- Modernize trolleybus contact network;
- Extend existing and open new trolleybus routes (if necessary, will be decided later);
- Purchase 30 new trolleybuses;
- Reconstruct the Repair Department of the Trolleybus Depot.
August 23, 2016, during a meeting of the EBRD Credit Committee a decision was made regarding the feasibility of the project. In response, on September 13, 2016, Bilotserkivska City Council adopted a decision “On participation of Bilotserkivska City Council in the draft update of the trolley park of Bila Tserkva» (№ 227-15-VII).
The next step will be the signing of a tripartite cooperation agreement on the preparation for Credit financing of the trolley park renovation between the Mayor, the Chief of the ME and the Bank. This agreement confirms the desire of the parties to cooperate in the preparation of the feasibility of the project (feasibility study) and provides no basis for the Credit.
The decision on the signing of the Credit financing will be made after detailed financial calculations and obtainment of approval from the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine to attract the funding.
The advantage of cooperation with the EBRD is that the bank in addition to financial resources also provides technical and expert assistance. The bank’s experts will be involved in the writing of the Concept of city’s public transport development. They will audit the ME “Trolleybus Management” by the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) and prepare a Feasibility Study for the project. The first visit of specialists of the bank to the city has already been conducted during which they estimated the extent of work needs to be made.
Pre-agreed terms of the Credit are:
- Amount – up to 6 mln. Euro;
- Maturity – up to 13 years;
- Exemption period – 3 years;
- The maturity of the principal amount – 10 years;
- Interest rate – 7% per annum.
Along with the preparation of feasibility studies, the Bank will hold talks on attracting resources from E5P as a grant of 1 mln. EUR which can be spent to expand the scale of the project.
It should be noted that public procurement for the project’s implementation will be conducted under the supervision of the Bank and by international standards (according to the rules and procedures of international financial institutions).
EBRD has enormous experience in implementing infrastructure projects in the European Union and neighbouring countries. In Ukraine, the Bank has implemented the number of projects, including the project of Tram tracks building to Sikhiv in Lviv (6 mln. EUR); Reconstruction of the highway Kyiv-Chop (138 mln. EUR); Reconstruction of the airport “Borispol” (15.0 mln US dollars) and infrastructure development of the Illichivsk Commercial Sea Port (38.9 mln. EUR).
Additional information:
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) – is an international financial institution founded in 1991. As a multilateral developmental investment bank, the EBRD uses investment as a tool to build market economies in 30 countries from central Europe to central Asia. Headquarters – London, United Kingdom.
