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EBRD helps relieve traffic bottlenecks in Lódz
Streetworks in Polish city to reduce traffic congestion, cut pollution levels
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is providing a €12.7 million loan to the Polish city of Lódz to help reduce traffic congestion and improve environmental and safety standards along important streets that run through the city.
The loan will help expand and rehabilitate a section of the pan-European corridor VI - a vital road network that links Poland to the Czech and Slovak Republics - around Lódz, enabling traffic to flow more freely through the city. The EBRD will syndicate €6 million of the loan to Dexia, a leading international commercial bank, making it the EBRD's first Polish municipal loan co-financed with a private bank.
Thomas Maier, Director for Municipal and Environmental Infrastructure at the EBRD, said that by expanding critical sections of the corridor around Lódz, thousands of people using the streets will benefit from reduced journey times. He said traffic congestion will be cut significantly, reducing the levels of pollution.
The European Union has also provided grant funds to help prepare a Road and Traffic Management Services Reform Programme, a scheme to improve the management of the city's roads and traffic. These improvements will include providing better road marking and traffic signing, better street lighting and improved road safety.
The City plans to implement the programme following a "Best Value" approach like that used successfully in the United Kingdom and other countries, whereby the City will review the quality and cost of existing local government road and traffic services. The review will, for example, assess how well these services meet users' needs, comparing current performance against that of similar cities, and consulting stakeholders on how to best make improvements. Improvements could include establishing joint-ventures or out-sourcing selected services. Mr Maier said that by using this approach the City will obtain good value for money in delivering services that meet citizens' needs. This approach could free up the city's funds to help improve other areas of Lódz.
To date the EBRD has invested over €230 million in municipal infrastructure projects in Poland. This is the Bank's tenth municipal infrastructure project in the country.
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