İzmir sea transport to get boost with funds

İZMİR

İzmir Municipality is making deals to finance eco-friendly sea transportation projects. DHA photo

The Metropolitan Municipality of İzmir, in the Aegean region, has signed a series of agreements with three financial institutions to financie a sea transportation project as part of a global transport program.

The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is coordinating the parallel lending framework, which amounts to 159 million euros. This amount includes a 45 million-euro loan committed by the IFC for traffic management and emergency response projects in December 2012 as well as a 110.7 million-euro loan committed this week by the French Agency for Development (AFD), the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and ING Bank.

The AFD and ING are to finance the purchase of new passenger ferry boats while the EBRD supports the purchase of three vehicle ferryboats, the construction of new wharves and a repair facility. The project is expected to encourage a more efficient, safer and low-carbon transport system by increasing the use of the sea, which will improve the city’s quality of life in the long term.

The sea-bourne project is part of a global transportion program that aims to develop a sustainable urban development. The project is planned to offer an alternative solution to private vehicles with a faster and environmentally friendly maritime public transport network.