The International Finance Corporation (IFC) is dedicating a 35 million euro loan to support Zaporizhia’s efforts to make the city more sustainable by implementing new technologies, the sister organization of the World Bank announced on June 24.
The lending institution continues to assist various municipal authorities to “build climate-resilient, sustainable cities” throughout the country. Zaporizhia, a city of 732,000 people located 500 kilometers southeast of Kyiv, is one of the country’s largest industrial centers but has suffered from “years of underinvestment.”
Envisioning a transformed city with greener transport and propelling infrastructure development, the loan will be used to implement smart city technologies that will enable better living in Zaporizhia.
The “transformation plan,” as IFC’s Regional Manager for Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova Jason Pellmar put it, entails upgrading the electric public transport infrastructure such as by purchasing battery-powered electric busses and trolleybuses to reduce CO2 emissions, as well as replacing the pavement of the roads.
The 35 million euro investment that includes 33 million euros from IFC’s own account and 2 million euros from the Clean Technology Fund that supports the transition to low-carbon societies, is meant to improve the public transport system and help the city fight climate change.
The loan will also be used to install traffic monitoring systems that allow locals to find the most time-efficient way to get to the desired destination, an important step to turn Zaporizhia into a smart city.
Besides the installation of traffic message boards throughout the city, there will also be technological advances made in communal services, including real-time monitoring of heat and water pressure to ensure everything runs smoothly.
“IFC is using its global expertise to help Zaporizhia find innovative and sustainable solutions to fuel its growth,” Pellmar said. “We hope to replicate this successful experience in other cities soon.”
Volodymyr Buryak, the mayor of Zaporizhia, also looks forward to building a new city with IFC’s assistance, promising that the infrastructure projects will benefit “tens of thousands of the city’s residents who will be able to use modern public transport and enjoy a modernized park in the city center.”
The reason to invest
Many Ukrainian cities are in significant need of infrastructure investment because of “deteriorating public transportation and communal services systems,” Elena Voloshina, senior country officer at IFC in Ukraine, said.
IFC is also working with a few other cities, including Lviv and Kryvyi Rih, to modernize their urban infrastructure and making them more energy efficient by introducing modern electric transports.
Voloshina said it was the first time ever that the IFC has worked with a municipality to assist its transformation into a smart city, and she hopes that the institution will be able to develop “long-term strategic relationships” with other regions as well to “help the country build resilient, sustainable cities.”
The IFC representative emphasized that “it has never been more critical than it is now to support such fast-growing cities, like Zaporizhia, in adjusting public transport services and reviewing fleet upgrading programs according to the new financial reality caused by the pandemic.”
Earlier this month, the IFC also agreed to issue a loan of up to 27 million euros to help Kryvy Rih purchase 50 trams and rebuild a part of the tram line. Back in 2019, the institution helped the city of Mariupol in the Donbas region purchase 64 modern public buses and upgrade its infrastructure.
Since 2004, the IFC invested over $9 billion in more than 280 projects worldwide under a program to improve infrastructure in various cities.
