Central Romania: Planned Cluj-Napoca subway to receive financing through green bonds

Cluj-Napoca mayor Emil Boc announced that green bonds will serve as a source of funding for the local subway project, alongside funds from the EU-granted National Recovery and Resilience Plan (or PNRR).

The mayor signed the financing contract for green bonds together with transport minister Sorin Grindeanu.

"This new source of financing from green bonds covers both current and future expenses [...] throughout the entire implementation period of the project, as specified in the financing contract," Emil Boc said on Tuesday, September 24, cited by News.ro.

He emphasized that this provides an additional secure funding source for the subway project. According to Boc, work continues on relocating utilities to prepare the stations and machinery that will go underground for excavation.

Prime minister Marcel Ciolacu recently expressed concern about the financing of the Cluj-Napoca subway but added that a dialogue had begun to find a solution.

“I spoke with the mayor, who knows the matter very well, but you know just as well as I do that the [PNRR] funding was partial, only EUR 300 million, while the total investment needed is EUR 2.2 billion. So we had to find a funding source to complete the entire project. Let’s wait for the Commission's response," Ciolacu said.

He added that the green bonds were the best solution to keep the subway project going.

At the end of August, the prime minister announced that PNRR funds were supposed to cover 10% of the subway project, approximately EUR 300 million, but the financing was lost due to irregularities in the procurement procedure.

At the beginning of September, the mayor of Cluj-Napoca, Emil Boc, reassured that the subway project would be completed, noting that the discussion about financing was "technical" in nature.

"Beyond all the public discussions, I want you to know that the subway will be built! In October-November, the tunnel boring machines that will dig the subway tunnels will arrive, and the actual construction work will begin," he emphasized.

Romanian authorities inaugurated the construction site of the first subway line in Cluj-Napoca in June. The project is scheduled to become fully operational in 2031.