October 9 (SeeNews) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has signed an agreement to provide a 22 million euro ($25.3 million) loan package for the renewal of Serbia’s state railways, the lender said on Tuesday.
The funds will finance infrastructure upgrades as well as the introduction of a new ticketing system and measures for energy efficiency, the EBRD said in a statement.
A total of 17 million euro will be invested in the expansion and upgrade of a railway depot in Zemun, transforming it into the central maintenance site for the fleet of the state railway company Srbija Voz, the sole passenger service operator in the country.
A second portion of 5 million euro will finance the acquisition of information technology systems to modernise enterprise resource planning, ticket sales and energy management, enabling more efficient and accurate data storage, improving productivity and cost savings as well as making Srbija Voz more energy efficient, the bank said.
The agreement was signed in Belgrade by Serbia’s finance minister Sinisa Mali and the acting general director of Srbija Voz, Jugoslav Jovic, as well as by the EBRD Director for Transport, Sue Barrett.
The EBRD is a leading investor in Serbia with more than 4.8 billion euro in 222 investment projects to date. Supporting the country’s preparations for its planned accession to the European Union is one of the Bank’s priorities.
($ = 0.870844 euro)