European funds Related EU Grant Loans Programme(s):  Loans for small and medium projects for companies and local authorities in Eastern Europe and Central Asian EBRD intervention countries

€15 million to improve streets and transport in City of Sibiu

The City of Sibiu, in central Romania, will have improved transport services with the help of a €10 million EBRD loan to the city and a separate €5 million loan to S.C. Tursib, the city’s wholly-owned public transport company.

The loan to the city will help finance a street rehabilitation programme across three suburban areas comprising around 36 streets. The Bank will syndicate part of the loan to Anglo-Romanian Bank Limited, the London-based subsidiary of Banca Comerciala Romana. The €5 million to Tursib will help buy 30 new buses, as well as equipment to maintain these buses.

Thomas Maier, EBRD Director for Municipal and Environmental Infrastructure, said the City of Sibiu has a focused strategy to improve its streets, urban transport, and other infrastructure, and the EBRD is supporting that strategy, which will ultimately benefit residents, tourists and businesses.

Last year, the Bank helped the city improve its urban transport through a €15 million loan to finance rehabilitation of the Railway Exchange Square, and provided co-financing to a European Union ISPA funded project that supported a water and waste-water improvement programme for Sibiu’s water company.

Klaus Werner Johannis, Mayor of Sibiu, said the EBRD’s loan is supporting our initiative to improve the City of Sibiu. The loan is the latest in a partnership between the Bank and Sibiu, and in this instance the EBRD is helping to improve street safety.

Adrian Popa, General Director of Tursib, said the Bank’s loan is crucial to helping us update our bus fleet. With passenger levels averaging around 60-65,000 people a day, it is important to cater for their services in the best way possible, and the Bank’s loan is helping to do that. The new fleet will consist of 22 large buses, and eight medium-sized buses which will be used in the historic part of the city.

The EBRD is one of the largest investors in Romania, having committed more than €3.1 billion in around 112 projects. In the Municipal and Environmental sector alone, the Bank has committed nearly €400 million providing financing for over €1.2 billion in investment in Romania.