The European Investment Bank (EIB) will provide a 7 million euro grant to rebuild infrastructure in Ukraine.
The Ministry of Community and Territorial Development of Ukraine announced that agreement has been signed by both parties on May 25.
The funds will be used to help implement the Recovery Programme, a new loan agreement to bring back decent living conditions and economic activity in the war-torn parts of eastern Ukraine, as well as oblasts that host a large number of internally displaced persons.
The program, which has already received 340 million euros from the EIB last year, will finance several hundred small and medium-sized projects at the municipal level. These include repairs to damaged administrative buildings and other key social infrastructure such as hospitals, schools, sewage systems and transport.
The lending arm of the European Union expects the loan to benefit about 13.7 million people, promote regional development and boost economic growth in the country.
Oleksiy Chernyshov, Minister for Communities and Territories Development of Ukraine, said that making sure that all residents have access to the modern infrastructure, including public services like education and healthcare, is one of his ministry’s priorities.
The implementation of the Early Recovery Programme, a 200 million euro loan signed in 2014, has already helped rebuild more than 240 facilities like hospitals and schools in Ukraine, according to the minister.
The official is certain that the new agreement will bring “an even larger-scale reconstruction of social infrastructure” in Ukraine.
“A grant of 7 million euros from the EU will help us in the rapid implementation of the planned recovery,” Chernyshov said.
Ukraine has been the main recipient of EIB’s support in Eastern Europe, getting 60% of its loans in the region.
The European bank has been working in Ukraine since 2007, and it has become one of the largest investors in the country, funding projects worth over 7 billion euros.
