The European Union will provide an investment grant of €20 million in a project to rehabilitate two key sections of railway lines in Moldova. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will lend the government of Moldova €23 million, with the remaining €28 million of the costs of the €71 million project being met by Moldovan Railways, IPN reports, quoting a press release of the EBRD.

According to the EBRD, rehabilitating the lines on Moldova’s North-South Rail Corridor will boost Moldova’s economic development and make it easier to transport goods from Ukraine via Moldova to the European Union.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine last February, uncertainty over the viability of export by sea of Ukraine’s large grain output has put new emphasis on finding alternative routes to maintain global food security. The project aims to increase Moldova’s logistics and transit potential and bring operational efficiency from improved regional infrastructure through the rehabilitation of railway infrastructure first on Moldova’s Valcinet – Balti – Ungheni rail section and then, in a second phase of works, on the Chisinau – Cainari section of the corridor.

The project will also increase food security by making it easier for Ukrainian goods to reach the largest operable port on the Black Sea, Constanta, as well as ports in Romania, Moldova and Ukraine, at Galati, Reni, Ismail and Giurgiulesti. These have a cumulative operating capacity that can absorb a significant part of Ukraine’s export needs. Moving these goods on to the railway will also reduce Moldova’s carbon emissions.

The EBRD has invested more than €2 billion in 163 projects in Moldova to date.