Top European bank provides Moldova with loan worth 30 million euros for implementing energy efficiency projects

Chisinau, 9 March /MOLDPRES/ - The government today approved a draft law for the ratification of the agreement on loan between Moldova and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)  for carryout out the Energy Efficiency in Moldova Project, worth 30 million euros, signed in Chisinau on 10 December 2021.

According to the government’s communication and protocol department, the draft is aimed at implementing a national programme on energy rehabilitation of more public buildings, such as hospitals, kindergartens, schools managed by the central and local public administration. Thus, the money will be allocated for the insulation of buildings, setting more efficient systems of illumination, heating, cooling and ventilation and their integration with renewable energy sources.  

At a request by the Infrastructure and Regional Development Ministry, decision-makers are set to exempt the project from the payment of the value added tax (VAT) and other taxes, including customs duties, through identifying proper legal ways, in order to back the efforts of the local and central authorities in the project’s implementation.   

The Project’s implementation will be made in two phases:

- Phase I – with emphasis on the governmental institutions (hospitals), with a budget of about 45 million euros, with legal coverage on behalf of EBRD and the European Investment Bank (EIB);   

- Phase II – with emphasis on the local public administration, with a budget of about 30 million euros.

During 2022, also other end beneficiaries of the project are to be identified, especially those who will be financed in the phase II and the final list of beneficiaries will be approved by the committee on coordinating the Project’s implementation.   

It is worth mentioning that, in order to carry out the project, Moldova borrowed another loan worth 30 million euros on behalf of EIB, a grant for technical assistance worth 2.6 million euros on behalf of the European Commission’s Neighbourhood Investment Platform (NIP), a grant amounting to 500,000 euros on behalf of the Eastern Partnership Technical Assistance Trust Fund. The country in 2022 is also to borrow a grant for capital investments worth 12.4 million euros on behalf of NIP. Thus, the overall budget of the project is 75.5 million euros, with a duration of implementation of 4 years (2022-2025).    

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