Lviv E-Buses

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 IFC’s proposed investment will be in the form of a Ukrainian Hryvnia-linked A loan of up to 32 million Euro equivalent to Lvivelectrotrans (“LET”), the municipal enterprise in charge of operating the tramway and the trolleybuses within the City of Lviv. LET is wholly-owned by the City of Lviv (the “City” or “Lviv”), which will fully guarantee LET’s obligations under the loan. The proposed investment will include the following two components: (1) the procurement of up to 100 trolleybuses with autonomous course capacity and in-motion charging (“autonomous trolleybuses”), and (2) the reconstruction of catenary lines and related infrastructure (the “Project”).  In addition, as part of IFC’s Ukraine Cities Program, IFC is providing Lviv with advisory support to help modernize the City’s public transport system. IFC’s advisory services are supporting: (i) selection of the autonomous trolleybus technology and assistance in preparing design specifications for tendering; (ii) review of the City’s “Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan” and transport model optimization to enable sizing of the new trolleybus fleet; (iii) audit of the existing catenary system and assessment of the rehabilitation and upgrading needs of the catenary network and electrical systems power grid (taking into account optimization of operating plans to minimize power consumption); (iv) increasing the financial and environmental sustainability of Lviv’s transportation system (including, if needed, support in implementing Lviv’s ongoing e-ticketing reform and other efficiency/regulatory measures); and (v) conducting a greenhouse gases (GHG) reduction assessment. The autonomous trolleybuses procured under the project will be operated by LET. Public transportation in Lviv is provided by two municipal operators, (i) ATP-1 for about 200 buses and (ii) LET for about 80 trams and 65 trolleybuses in daily operation. There are four private operators which operate about 250 more buses, most of which are small capacity diesel buses (also known as “marshrutkas). About 60% of passengers are carried by buses, 25% by trams and 15% by trolleybuses.  Per the information provided during IFC’s review, most of the new autonomous trolleybuses will be used in existing trolleybus lines which will be extended and some will be deployed to a new line. Some of the trolleybuses of LET’s existing fleet will be placed out of service after the purchase of the new trolleybuses. Once placed in service, the new autonomous trolleybuses will allow for an upgrading of the overall public transportation system and for further optimization of the public transportation network. Lvivavtodor (“LAD”) is the City’ subsidiary responsible for providing overall oversight of the transit system for the City. LAD is also the operator of Lviv’s traffic management system and will be in charge of route optimization when the new fleet will be placed in service. Optimization plans, including an assessment of the operational changes required with respect to the bus lines operated by the private operators, has not yet been carried out by the Lviv City Council Transport Office, LAD and LET. The design specifications of the new autonomous trolleybuses are expected to be completed by early 2020 and availability of the buses is expected for the second half of 2020. LET has an operational tram depot plus another one under construction as well as a trolleybus depot, which will serve as cleaning, parking and maintenance center for the new autonomous trolleybuses. An ongoing project by LET (not included in the proposed investment) is aimed at improving the current trolleybus depot including inspection area/pits and several systems including heating/ventilation, air conditioning, illumination, and firefighting and others that relate to occupational health and safety.  The reconstruction, modernization and, as needed, expansion of catenary (or overhead) line network and related infrastructure (such as electrical feeder lines) is the second component of the proposed investment. The catenary lines, which provide energy to the tramway and the trolleybuses, are a total of around 75 km in length for the trams and 150 km for the trolleybuses within the city, where an estimated 50 km of the trolleybus lines need upgrading or replacing. Catenary network design and reconstruction is within LET’s responsibilities. Catenary line reconstruction is expected to create only minor traffic disturbances in places where new supports and/or new cables need to be installed. The use of proceeds that relate to the infrastructure (which may include installation of new electrical feeder lines and/or rehabilitation of the existing lines) will be determined following the completion of IFC’s advisory support.