EBRD, donors support modernisation of railways in Serbia

BELGRADE - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) announced on Tuesday Serbian Railways Infrastructure was launching a comprehensive programme to improve its corporate governance and operational performance, supported by the EBRD and donors.

"The package will include three technical assistance projects. The first project aims to help Serbian Railways Infrastructure to improve its corporate governance, while the second project will help boost the company’s operational performance.

The third technical assistance project will follow early in 2024. It will focus on helping the railway sector to establish an independent market regulator and to integrate Serbia’s railways into the EU transport market," the EBRD said in a statement.

The technical assistance is financed by Italy through the Central European Initiative and the EBRD, it said.

"These projects follow the 2.2 bln financial package jointly provided by the EBRD (an investment loan of 550 mln euros), the EU (an investment grant of 598 mln euros) and the EIB (an investment loan of 1.1 bln euros) for the modernisation of the 230 km high-speed rail link connecting Belgrade to Nis," the statement also said.