The European Investment Bank, the European Union’s financing institution, is providing EUR 55 million to the Republic of Turkey, which will onlend the funds to the Bursa Metropolitan Municipality (BMM) for completing the city’s light rail transit system.
The project concerns primarily the baseline of the network – a route of 21 km of double track with 22 stations, which is subdivided in two sections “A” and “B”, related operation and maintenance facilities and a rolling stock fleet. The first section, “A” with all related structures was recently completed and the truncated system was put into operation. The EIB loan will be for the establishment of section “B” completing the system’s currently missing part in the East of the city.
The Bursa light rail is not just solving transport problems in one of the biggest urban centres in Turkey, it also contributes to the creation of a healthier environment for some 1.2 million inhabitants and to a better enabling environment for further economic development. The project will contribute to improve the quality of service in terms of speed, comfort and reliability of public transport in Bursa and thus enhance the attractiveness of the public mode. This should also help to contain the growth in private car usage and alleviate traffic congestion and related environmental problems, particularly in the central areas of the city.
This urban transport investment in Turkey’s fourth largest city is co-financed with Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau (KfW), as well as with commercial banks. (menareport.com)
© 2004 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
