​INVESTMENTS IN CFM MODERNIZATION WILL LEAD TO SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT – ANTONIO CASTILIO

The European Investment Bank will provide a credit of 50 million euros for modernizing the National Railroad Company of Moldova (CFM) in order to bring it to a more stable development path and suspend the aggravation of the situation in this sector, said Head of the EIB Moldovan Office Antonio Castilio in an interview to Infotag.

The banker said that we should be realists and not expect a considerable raising of the number of passengers and the volume of cargoes, transported by train, after the implementation of projects, financed by the EIB.

“Best equipment and infrastructure will allow reducing the time of transportation, which will make the railroad more attractive and, what is more important, will give an economic and financial effect. Here, it should be said that had such project not existed, the CFM would have continued further degrading, worsening its production rates and reducing its revenues. In parallel, the costs for enterprise functioning would have been growing”, said the EIB representative to Moldova.

The banker stressed that the EIB and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) are providing financing for the project, but its implementation is completely the responsibility of the CFM. Two authority banks – EBRD and EIB will insist that tenders on buying equipment and technique to correspond to European standards.

“This will be the largest project in the field of Moldovan railroad. In terms of volume, this will be a more complex project than any other investment, making the CFM more competitive”, the EIB Moldovan office head said.