Skip to main content

EBRD finances road repairs and upgrades in Eastern Europe

The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing a sovereign loan of up to US$86 million (€65 million) to Bosnia and Herzegovina to support an infrastructure programme aimed at repairing and upgrading the country’s road network, which has been damaged by severe floods in recent years. The improvements to the network will support regional connectivity, making it easier for domestic companies to transport their products to local and regional customers. Supporting regional integratio
July 15, 2016 Read time: 2 mins
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing a sovereign loan of up to US$86 million (€65 million) to Bosnia and Herzegovina to support an infrastructure programme aimed at repairing and upgrading the country’s road network, which has been damaged by severe floods in recent years.

The improvements to the network will support regional connectivity, making it easier for domestic companies to transport their products to local and regional customers. Supporting regional integration is one of the EBRD’s three main strategic priorities.

The EBRD loan will be extended to the public company Roads of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The European Investment Bank and the World Bank are expected to provide parallel financing for other road sections under the company’s priority investment programme.

Due to the mountainous terrain, roads are the main means of transport in Bosnia and Herzegovina, with 70 per cent of cargo and 90 per cent of passengers carried on its roads. The EBRD loan will contribute to the improvement of service and traffic safety on the country's road network.

The EBRD funds will not only support road improvements but also measures to strengthen the company’s management, enhance procurement procedures, upgrade road traffic safety systems and procedures, introduce measures to increase climate change resilience and improve the company’s economic performance. The state-owned firm is in charge of the construction, rehabilitation, maintenance and protection of a network of 2,000 km of main roads in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The European bank is also stepping up its support for a road rehabilitation programme in the Sarajevo Canton from US$22 million (€16.5 million) to a total of UAS$30 million (€22.5 million).

The extra funding, which become necessary due the challenging nature of the works, will enable the completion of the challenging works on the southern longitudinal road which will improve the traffic flow in and out of the Bosnian capital for private road users as well as for businesses.

Better transport connections will strengthen the local economy and support its regional integration in line with the EBRD’s current strategic priorities. The improvement of the road network will also alleviate the burden of road traffic on the environment.

Related Content

  • February 2, 2012
    Carbon finance delivers critical support to mass transit schemes
    David Crawford investigates carbon finance in transport. World Bank carbon finance grants are delivering critical support to major mass transit deployments in emerging and developing economies. Only recently operative in the transport sector, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM, see panel) is designed to generate additional income streams and improve internal rates of return on projects funded from public- and private-sector sources.
  • January 2, 2013
    Cambodia's first commercial train begins operation
    After years of renovation, Cambodia's modern railway system has commenced commercial rail operations on the 256 km southern line between the capital city of Phnom Penh and Sihanoukville Port. The renovation was carried out with financial support from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and development partners. "ADB welcomes this first commercial train service to the Port of Sihanoukville which marks a significant development towards the completion of the long-awaited Pan-Asian railroad - a contiguous Iron Sil
  • March 8, 2017
    International seminar to call for greater private sector role in infrastructure financing
    Ways to boost private sector investment in infrastructure will be the focus of a regional seminar held by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development EBRD), the World Bank Group and the G20 Global Infrastructure Hub on 9-10 March in Athens. The event will bring together policymakers from 20 countries in eastern Europe, central Asia and the Southern and Eastern Mediterranean, private and institutional investors as well international experts on infrastructure project finance. They will discuss po
  • May 30, 2014
    US eyes European model for Illinois toll road upgrade
    David Crawford welcomes the adoption of European-style ITS technology by the US. The Jane Addams Memorial Tollway in Illinois, US is well on the way towards becoming a ‘smart traffic corridor’, taking full advantage of active traffic management (ATM or ‘managed lanes’) technology that originated in Europe. It is one of the first American toll roads to do so; preliminary work began in 2014 and will continue through to 2016. Jane Addams is one of four toll roads operated by the publicly-owned Illinois State T