The World Bank’s Board of Directors has approved a new $432 million support package, Building Resilient Infrastructure in a Vulnerable Environment in Ukraine (DRIVE), to help the government increase the resilience of the national road network and improve operational efficiency in the transport sector.
DRIVE complements the ongoing Rehabilitation of Key Logistics Infrastructure and Network Connectivity (RELINC) project, which delivered modular road bridges and manufactured 200 platform cars to increase Ukrzaliznytsia’s cargo capacity and export capacity.
The World Bank noted that since the outbreak of war in February 2022, Ukraine’s transportation infrastructure has suffered significant damage, disrupting key import and export routes. According to the recently published Rapid Damage and Recovery Needs Assessment (RDNA4), in the transport sector, road infrastructure has suffered the most: 58% of the transport sector; 30% of state roads and bridges, 11% of local roads and bridges, and 17% of communal roads have been severely damaged.
DRIVE project financing includes a $212 million loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) under the Trust Fund for the Provision of Necessary Credit Support to Ukraine (ADVANCE Ukraine), which is supported by the Government of Japan. The financing also includes a $210 million loan from the Special Program for Ukraine and Moldova (SPUR) and a $10 million grant from the Ukraine Recovery, Rehabilitation, Trust Fund (URTF).
The project will be implemented by the State Agency for the Restoration and Development of Infrastructure of Ukraine.
The project’s page on the bank’s website states that it has three components, the first of which is the preservation of the national road network. This component includes two components. The first component, an investment for national roads worth $270.48 million, finances the design, execution, and supervision of construction works aimed at maintaining certain sections of national roads in good operating condition, including through operational maintenance, major road repairs, and major bridge repairs.
The second component – the reform of national roads and road transport – allocates $90 million to improve the efficiency of the transport sector with a results-oriented approach.
The second component, worth $39 million, is for periodic maintenance of the national road network, which also has two components: the installation of emergency modular road bridges and climate-smart preservation of key links in the road network.
The third component is technical assistance and project management, which also includes two components: technical assistance and project development ($9 million URTF grant), which complements the investment-oriented components, and project management ($1 million URTF grant), which finances eligible costs to support project implementation and management, training and knowledge sharing.
The bank added that DRIVE is also closely aligned with recent and ongoing analytical activities and technical assistance from the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (IFC). These include the RDNA4 and upcoming policy notes on road sector financing and road concession development in Ukraine.
Source: https://interfax.com.ua/
