p > THE EUROPEAN Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will take part in the project to complete the R1 express road from Nitra to Tekovské Nemce in the Nitra region, as decided by the EBRD Council of Directors on July 14, the TASR newswire reported.
EBRD should invest some €250 million in the project.
“The Council approved the project at its session today, but the investment itself is still subject to agreement between all the participating parties,” the head of the EBRD’s department of media relations, Anthony Williams, told TASR.
Transport, Posts and Telecommunication Minister Ľubomír Vážny has said that EBRD's participation is a key element in the completion of the R1 express road with the assistance of public-private partnership (PPP) projects. If the bank does not take part in the project, the Slovak Government would have to look for another way of finishing off the road, he said.
EBRD states that the whole R1 completion project should cost €1.364 billion, and that the bank is considering providing a priority loan amounting to €250 million, which would form part of an overall loan amounting to €1.05 billion. The money would be used to finance the construction of the express road and cover the transaction costs.
