The European Commission for Regional Policy approved on 17 October the allocation of EUR 226.6 million from the Cohesion Fund for the retrospective project “Rehabilitation of Bucharest-Constanta railway, Bucharest North – Bucharest Baneasa and Fetesti – Constanta sections”. This financing will cover the amount attracted by CFR SA from the JBIC credit (Japanese Bank for International Cooperation). “We have the approval to hand in retrospective projects and this project meets eligibility conditions and has been therefore admitted. This amount granted by the Commission will be used for any kind of project that will be initiated by the state, as the JBIC credit was co-financed by the state and will, therefore, be redistributed by the state budget”, explained Marius Chiper, General Manager CFR SA.
According to JBIC, for the rehabilitation of Bucharest-Constanta railway, the project contractor, CFR SA, was granted JPY 25.6 billion (EUR 224.94 million, according to the currency exchange of 20 October 2016). The amount granted by the Japanese Bank is mentioned by JBIC in the statistics on ODA loan commitments for the financial year 2000.
“This decision is part of the decisions assumed by the European Commission regarding the co-financing of retrospective projects aimed to increase the absorption of European funds in Romania. Thus, the European Commission takes over part of the initial costs that the Romanian State made for the rehabilitation works to the railway that connects the capital to Constanta. In fact, following the joint cooperation of DG REGIO experts and national authorities, within the working group for a better implementation, retrospective projects on transport infrastructure have been approved in Romania with a total value of approx. EUR 450 million from the Cohesion Fund and the European Fund for Regional Development”, declared the European Commissioner for Regional Policy, Corina Cretu.
The project is part of the Operational Programme Transport period 2007-2013, priority axis “Modernisation and development of the core TEN-T network in order to develop a sustainable transport system and its integration in the transport networks of the European Union”. The rehabilitation works of the over 80 km of railways between Bucharest and Constanta, on the two sections, Bucharest North – Bucharest Baneasa, and Fetesti – Constanta respectively, have been initially financed by the Romanian State, the total cost of the project being of almost EUR 475 million.
For the rehabilitation project of Bucharest-Constanta railway, the main objective was to reduce the travel time between the two cities, as well as the shift from the prevailing road transport to railway transport. Following the rehabilitation works of this rail section, it is estimated that by 2030, around 3.7 million passengers will use the train annually to cover the distance between Bucharest and Constanta, and railway freight transport on this route is estimated to reach up to 21 million tonnes per year. At the moment, passenger trains can travel on Bucharest-Constanta route at speeds of up to 160 km/h, while freight trains at a maximum 120 km/h.
At present, the absorption rate for the Operational Programme Transport in the financial period 2007-2013 is by over 81%.
In the programming period 2014-2020, Romania was granted around EUR 9,4 billion for the Operational Programme Large Infrastructure (POIM) through both the European Regional Development fund, and the Cohesion Fund. More than half the total financing (including national co-financing) for POIM – EUR 6.8 billion – is stipulated for the transport infrastructure, 37% for development of environment and 5% for energy.
Share on:
