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Project Description
A loan of up to EUR 15 million to the Romanian Municipality of Alba-Iulia, to co-finance, alongside the EU, the rehabilitation of the transport network of the City.
Project Objectives
This project will serve as a trigger investment under the Green Cities Framework 2 Window II (GrCF2 W2) for Alba-Iulia to join EBRD Green Cities and develop its Green City Action Plan. The investments will result in GHG and other pollutant emissions reduction, reduced traffic congestion, and a more efficient use of the transport network.
Transition Impact
ETI score: 70
The Project will primarily help to promote the Green transition quality by improving the public infrastructure for cyclist, pedestrian and public transport users through an inclusive and integrated approach. The Project will result in a modal shift from private vehicles to public and non-motorised transport modes that will improve the air quality and will reduce air pollution.
The Project will also support the Inclusive objective through significant improvement on the design of the sustainable transport network in the City, improving accessibility, safety and security.
Client Information
CITY OF ALBA IULIA
The Municipality of Alba-Iulia is a city that serves as the capital of Alba County, located by the Mures River in Transylvania with a population over 75,000.
EBRD Finance Summary
EUR 15,000,000.00
Total Project Cost
EUR 50,000,000.00
Additionality
The Bank is additional because of its:
Financing structure: EBRD offers long-term financing for CO2 reduction and energy efficiency measures in urban infrastructure. Due to the existing market inefficiencies, such financing is not readily available from commercial banks.
Knowledge, innovation, and capacity building: The Bank’s involvement is sought due to its ability to pursue the City’s green agenda (including policy dialogue) with the central and local authorities, as part of the Green Cities Action Plan development.
Standard-setting: The Client will pursue higher climate and inclusion standards as part of the GCAP.
Environmental and Social Summary
Categorised B (2019 ESP). Environmental and social due diligence (“ESDD”) of the proposed investment was undertaken by independent consultants as part of the Technical, Financial and Social Due Diligence. As part of the ESDD, a review of the EU Grant applications documents (including the Feasibility Studies) and other relevant project documentation prepared as well as of the documents submitted to the authorities in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) procedure and approvals received to date has been carried. There was no EIA report requested for the project.
ESDD concluded that the City has the institutional capacity to implement the project in compliance with the Bank’s PRs and with national legislation. ESDD also concluded that any adverse environmental and social impacts of the project will be site-specific, mainly restricted to the construction phase. These include occupational health and safety risks, waste management, temporary loss of access to parts of public buildings and protection of vulnerable road users and road safety aspects for bike lanes, which will be addressed through appropriate mitigation measures.
An Environmental and Social Action Plan (“ESAP”) has been developed, containing actions that have been defined and agreed with the City in order to achieve full compliance. ESAP includes requirements to update the organisation set-up in order to accommodate the project investment unit; update the environmental and social policies to accommodate new strategic developments and ensure that the policy is communicated to employees; monitor contractors to ensure that they fulfil their environmental and social obligations during the construction phase; ensure that the environmental management plans for the sub-projects (each investment) are implemented during construction and operation; finalise the City Climate Adaptation Plan and implement measures to reduce the effects of flooding, as well as development of EHS and waste management plans.
Information on sub-projects, including the grievance mechanism, will be disclosed at sites and online. Monitoring of the project and ESAP implementation will be carried out via annual environmental and social reports provided by the client.
Technical Cooperation and Grant Financing
The Project benefits from a pre-signing Technical Cooperation assignment for due diligence (technical, financial, environmental, legal and operational); the cost of this assignment was EUR 75 thousand and was financed by the EBRD budget.
The Project will also benefit from a post-signing Technical Cooperation for the development of a Green City Action Plan (“GCAP”) in support of the City’s green agenda. The cost is EUR 250 thousand and will be financed by the EBRD Shareholder’s Special Fund.
Company Contact Information
Maria-Elena SEEMANN
office@apulum.ro
+40 (0) 372 586 428
Alba Iulia, Calea Motilor Str. 5 A, 510134, Romania
Implementation summary
PSD last updated
16 Jun 2023
Understanding Transition
Further information regarding the EBRD’s approach to measuring transition impact is available here.
Business opportunities
For business opportunities or procurement, contact the client company.
For business opportunities with EBRD (not related to procurement) contact:
Tel: +44 20 7338 7168
Email: projectenquiries@ebrd.com
For state-sector projects, visit EBRD Procurement:
Tel: +44 20 7338 6794
Email: procurement@ebrd.com
General enquiries
Specific enquiries can be made using the EBRD Enquiries form.
Environmental and Social Policy (ESP)
The ESP and the associated Performance Requirements (PRs) set out the ways in which the EBRD implements its commitment to promoting “environmentally sound and sustainable development”. The ESP and the PRs include specific provisions for clients to comply with the applicable requirements of national laws on public information and consultation as well as to establish a grievance mechanism to receive and facilitate resolution of stakeholders’ concerns and grievances, in particular, about environmental and social performance of the client and the project. Proportionate to the nature and scale of a project’s environmental and social risks and impacts, the EBRD additionally requires its clients to disclose information, as appropriate, about the risks and impacts arising from projects or to undertake meaningful consultation with stakeholders and consider and respond to their feedback.
More information on the EBRD’s practices in this regard is set out in the ESP.
Integrity and Compliance
The EBRD’s Office of the Chief Compliance Officer (OCCO) promotes good governance and ensures that the highest standards of integrity are applied to all activities of the Bank in accordance with international best practice. Integrity due diligence is conducted on all Bank clients to ensure that projects do not present unacceptable integrity or reputational risks to the Bank. The Bank believes that identifying and resolving issues at the project assessment approval stages is the most effective means of ensuring the integrity of Bank transactions. OCCO plays a key role in these protective efforts, and also helps to monitor integrity risks in projects post-investment.
OCCO is also responsible for investigating allegations of fraud, corruption and misconduct in EBRD-financed projects. Anyone, both within or outside the Bank, who suspects fraud or corruption should submit a written report to the Chief Compliance Officer by email to compliance@ebrd.com. All matters reported will be handled by OCCO for follow-up. All reports, including anonymous ones, will be reviewed. Reports can be made in any language of the Bank or of the Bank’s countries of operation. The information provided must be made in good faith.
Access to Information Policy (AIP)
The AIP sets out how the EBRD discloses information and consults with its stakeholders so as to promote better awareness and understanding of its strategies, policies and operations following its entry into force on 1 January 2020. Please visit the Access to Information Policy page to find out what information is available from the EBRD website.
Specific requests for information can be made using the EBRD Enquiries form.
Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM)
If efforts to address environmental, social or public disclosure concerns with the Client or the Bank are unsuccessful (e.g. through the Client’s Project-level grievance mechanism or through direct engagement with Bank management), individuals and organisations may seek to address their concerns through the EBRD’s Independent Project Accountability Mechanism (IPAM).
IPAM independently reviews Project issues that are believed to have caused (or to be likely to cause) harm. The purpose of the Mechanism is: to support dialogue between Project stakeholders to resolve environmental, social and public disclosure issues; to determine whether the Bank has complied with its Environmental and Social Policy or Project-specific provisions of its Access to Information Policy; and where applicable, to address any existing non-compliance with these policies, while preventing future non-compliance by the Bank.
Please visit the Independent Project Accountability Mechanism webpage to find out more about IPAM and its mandate; how to submit a Request for review; or contact IPAM via email ipam@ebrd.com to get guidance and more information on IPAM and how to submit a request.
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