The Bank is extending a €20 million sovereign loan to Armenia for the benefit of the Yerevan Bus Company to acquire new compressed natural gas buses. The vehicles will improve the service for the city’s 1 million inhabitants by increasing the reliability, safety and efficiency of public transport while benefiting the environment by reducing emissions.

The EBRD loan is supported by a capital grant of €5 million provided by the Eastern Europe Energy Efficiency and Environment Partnership (E5P), a multi-donor fund managed by the EBRD. The European Union is the largest contributor to the E5P fund while Sweden is the largest bilateral donor and initiator of the fund. Other donors to the E5P fund in Armenia include the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Slovak Republic and the EBRD Taiwan Business TC Fund.

The project aims to enhance public transport mobility in Yerevan and is part of the EBRD’s Green Cities Framework, which is a programme that supports municipal “green” investment, available across all of the economies where the EBRD invests. The new low-floor buses will accommodate passengers with limited movement, including the elderly and disabled.

The Yerevan Bus Company will also benefit from EBRD’s technical cooperation support for corporate development, support to the introduction of new ticketing system, stakeholder engagement taking the different needs and abilities of the passengers into account, as well as advisory to enhance gender equality and inclusion through promoting safety for all, women in particular.