The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has granted Sibiu, a historic city in Romania’s Transylvania region, a new long-term EUR 15 million loan to help it further develop its urban infrastructure.

The loan will finance the rehabilitation of about 25 kilometers of streets in the town’s newly redeveloped areas and will improve road maintenance by engaging private sector companies under multi-annual performance-based contracting, according to the EBRD. The loan will also support the implementation of a Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan, a set of measures to improve mobility for residents and businesses in an environmentally friendly and sustainable way.

“Infrastructure investments combined with reforms have dramatically changed Sibiu over the last decade. The EBRD is very proud to have been part of this transformation and we are pleased to provide new financing for improved mobility and safe and efficiently managed streets. This will further boost the city’s economic competitiveness as one of the main tourist and cultural attractions in Romania,” said Matteo Patrone, EBRD’s Regional Director for Romania and Bulgaria.

Modernising urban infrastructure became a priority after 2004 when Sibiu, formerly known as Hermannstadt, was selected as the 2007 European Capital of Culture, together with Luxembourg. Since then the municipality has become one of the largest recipients of EBRD municipal financing in the countries where the bank invests. To date, the EBRD has provided over EUR 70 million in long-term financing, lending directly to the Sibiu municipality and working with the city’s public transport and water and wastewater companies.

Investments in roads, public transport, water and wastewater networks, supported by the EBRD and the EU, have boosted Sibiu’s economic growth and encouraged its transformation into a tourism, cultural and trade hub. Since 2005, more than 200 streets have been modernized using a combination of local budget funds, EBRD loans and EU structural funds.

This new loan has been granted under the EBRD’s new programme entitled Romania Framework for Sustainable Mobility and Access to Regional Transport, or SMART, which aims to help bring improvements to the public transport infrastructure and services in the country.

The EBRD is a leading institutional investor in Romania. The bank has invested over EUR 7 billion in the country to date and also helped mobilize more than EUR 14 billion from other sources of financing.

Capital markets, infrastructure, and private sector are EBRD’s investment priorities in Romania

editor@romania-insider.com