International banks called to lend $1.3bn hand

The energy sector is after $1.3bn in funding from international financial institutions for the next four years, with the biggest project worth $300 million and aimed at the electrification of all the inhabited areas in Romania.
The energy companies subordinated to the Industry and Resources Ministry (MIR) drafted a list of projects they deemed as priorities and presented it to the main international financial institutions: the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank and the International Finance Corporation.
The total financing estimated by MIR as needed for the retooling of the energy sector amounts to more than $6bn distributed over the next four years.
Electrica proposed the lenders to grant it a $200 million loan, with the company to come up with the rest of the money. The electrification business will be carried out over four years, progressing at a $50 million pace a year, so that the over 93,000 households still unelectrified could finally be connected to the power network.
If looking at the total value of the projects, Termoelectrica is to benefit the most, as it estimated it would need some $700 million to develop seven projects.
The company’s priority is to rehabilitate two power producing units of 125MW each at CET Western Bucharest and CET Southern Bucharest, and a 210 MW unit at CET Braila. The rehabilitation of the units in Bucharest is to cost $170 million and the rehabilitation of the unit in Braila will need $77 million.
Besides the rehabilitation works on its units, Termoelectrica is planning to build new units at the power plants in Ludus, Grozavesti and Craiova, all of which are set to produce both electrical and thermal power and run on natural gases.