Parliament carried in the first reading a bill to ratify two lending agreements to the value of €82 million for building the Ungheni-Chisinau gas pipeline with the length of 117 km, IPN reports.
One of the agreements envisions the allocation by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development of €41 million as a sovereign loan. Additionally, the European Union will allocate €10 million in the form of a grant into the state budget to cover the initial financial contribution of €10 million that is to be made from the state budget. The interest rate on the sovereign loan that will be raised from the EBRD is standard and will be calculated according to EURIBOR + 1% a year. The loan will be repaired with money collected as natural gas transportation tariffs.
Under the second lending agreement, the European Investment Bank will contribute €41 million as a sovereign loan for the construction of the gas pipeline.
The financing contracts were signed in December 2016.
Deputy Speaker of Parliament Iurie Leanca said when the works to build the gas pipeline were launched, lower amounts were made public and it is strange that so large sums are to be borrowed. In this connection, deputy minister of economy Vitalie Iurcu said the Ministry of Economy has a series of amendments to the two agreements and they are considering possibilities of attracting private investments to the project as it is in the interest of the Romanian side as well to make investments in this regard.
