EBRD and EU promote modern and ecologically friendly public transport in Ukraine

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The city of Kherson in southern Ukraine with a population of approximately 300,000 is replacing its ageing fleet of trolley buses with a modern and ecologically friendly rolling stock and is the latest Ukrainian municipality to join the EBRD’s Public Transport Framework II for the country. An EBRD loan of up to €10 million and an investment grant of up to €1.5 million from the EU Neighbourhood Investment Platform will be provided to Khersonelectrotrans, the city’s major transport utility, which operates 15 trolley bus routes with a total length of almost 120 kilometres and over 40,000 passengers daily. The funds will be used to procure up to 50 new trolleybuses, spare parts as well as maintenance and diagnostic equipment. The investment will also include the modernisation and extension of the existing catenary network and the rehabilitation of the traction power substations. The upgraded trolley bus fleet will help reduce energy consumption by at least 20 per cent and will reduce annual CO² emissions by almost 4,000 tonnes. Grant funding of up to €850,000 provided by the EU and the EBRD-Ukraine Stabilisation and Sustainable Growth Multi-Donor Account will help financing due diligence, project implementation measures as well as corporate development and sustainable urban mobility plan for Khersonelectrotrans. The EBRD is the largest international financial investor in Ukraine. Since the start of its operations in the country in 1993, the Bank has made a cumulative commitment of almost €13.6 billion through 432 projects in the country.