Moldova’s Cabinet endorsed the bill to ratify the agreement with the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine on the construction of the crossborder road bridge over the Nistru, on the state Moldovan-Ukrainian border, near Cosăuți and Yampil, which was signed in Kyiv on June 12 this year. The bridge will be over 1,400 meters long and will have two lanes and two sidewalks, on each side, IPN reports.

According to Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development Lilia Dabija, the building of the bridge will connect the road network in eastern Moldova with the Trans-European Transport Network TEN-T, which will satisfy citizens’ needs for mobility and will facilitate trade on the domestic and international market and will also highlight the role played by the Republic of Moldova as a link between the EU member states and the neighboring states.

Under the agreement, the Government of Ukraine will provide financing for drafting the technical project and for building the bridge and the related infrastructure on the territory of Ukraine. The Republic of Moldova will build the access road and the border crossing point. For the purpose, the allocation of financial resources from the Road Fund was recently approved. The goal is to choose a contractor and to work out the project by the end of this year and to launch the building works at the beginning of next year. It is estimated that the construction works will be completed towards the end of 2025, stated the minister.

Lilia Dabija also said that the works to build the 40 km Soroca-Arionești-Otaci road are under way. The road section that is to be rehabilitated will ensure connection with the new TEN-T networks.

In total, 2.2 billion lei was transferred from the state budget to the 2023 Road Fund for maintaining and repairing national public roads.