The Government on Thursday approved a draft law for contracting a 500 million euro loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) for the construction of the Sibiu - Pitesti Motorway, a major infrastructure project estimated to be completed in 2028.
According to a Government press release, the Sibiu - Pitesti Motorway is part of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) and plays an essential role in improving mobility on European and national transport corridors. The motorway will be the first to cross the Carpathian Mountains and will facilitate access to the Black Sea, generating significant economic development opportunities for communities in the north and south of the country.
The draft law provides that the loan will be available for 36 months from the signing of the financing contract and may be drawn in a maximum of 10 instalments, each of at least 50 million euro. The financing may cover up to 50% of the total cost of the project, excluding expenses related to VAT and expropriations.
"The contracting of the loan is part of the Government's Public Debt Management Strategy 2025-2027, which provides for the use, in addition to domestic resources, of external financing offered by international financial institutions under advantageous conditions. The financial conditions of each instalment - including maturity, type of interest, repayment method and payment schedule - will be established at the time of withdrawal, in accordance with EIB standards. Maturity may reach up to 27 years for instalments repaid in stages or up to 16 years for those repaid in full at maturity," the press release further reads.
The servicing of the public debt related to the loan, namely the repayment of the principal and the payment of interest and commissions, will be ensured by the Government through the Ministry of Finance.
The project is being implemented by the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure through the National Company for Road Infrastructure Administration, acting as the implementing agency. The Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Transport, together with the National Company for Road Infrastructure Administration, will conclude a subsidiary agreement establishing responsibilities for the implementation of the project and the use of the funds.
As additional information, the Government states that the Sibiu - Pitesti Motorway project, launched in 2020, benefits from financing from non-reimbursable European funds through the Large Infrastructure Operational Programme 2014-2020 and the Transport Programme 2021-2027.
The total value of allocations from non-reimbursable external funds amounts to approximately 9.27 billion lei (1.83 billion euro), with the difference covered from the state budget.
The motorway has a total length of 122.11 kilometres and is structured into five sections: Sibiu - Boita (14.15 km), Boita - Cornetu (30.35 km), Cornetu - Tigveni (37.40 km), Tigveni - Curtea de Arges (9.86 km) and Curtea de Arges - Pitesti (30.35 km).
The draft law will be sent to Parliament for debate and adoption.
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