EUR 695.1 million investment was proposed by the European Commission for 49 key projects on sustainable and innovative transport infrastructure development. The investment will unlock EUR 2.4 billion public and private co-financing.
EUR 103.6 million will be allotted to upgrade the railway network, maritime connections, and ports and inland waterways. The largest part of the funding, EUR 290.3 million, will be devoted to modernising European air traffic management, EUR 209.5 million will be distributed to innovative projects and new technologies for transport. In supporting the selected projects, the Commission is firmly delivering on the objectives outlined in its Clean Mobility package.
Over EUR 250 million of CEF funding will be invested in 26 projects dedicated to developing new technologies in transport notably promoting alternative fuels. The proposed projects envisage a greening the maritime transport link between Swinoujscie port in Poland and Ystad port in Sweden, deploying hydrogen public transport infrastructure in Denmark, the UK and Latvia, developing zero-emission public transport services for Amsterdam airport, as well as electrifying urban and regional bus routes in Croatia, Italy, Slovenia and Slovakia. Building a network of bio-liquefied natural gas stations on roads connecting southern Spain and eastern Poland, via France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany are also proposed projects.
An additional EUR 450 million is made available to finance alternative fuel infrastructure through the InnovFin Energy Demo Projects (EDP) and CEF Debt Instrument. They are managed by the European Investment Bank.
Following EU Member States approval of the proposal, the Commission will adopt a formal decision in the coming weeks. The Commission’s Innovation and Networks Executive Agency will then sign the grants with the project beneficiaries by January 2019.
All proposed projects were selected for funding via two competitive calls for proposals, open to projects in all EU Member States. The 2017 CEF Transport Blending call launched on 8 February 2017, takes an innovative approach, making available an indicative budget of EUR 1.35 billion of EU grants, to be combined with financing from the European Fund for Strategic Investments (EFSI), the European Investment Bank (EIB), National Promotional Banks or private sector investors. Some 69 applications, requesting a total of EUR 1 billion in co-funding, were received by the second deadline. Of these, 35 projects were selected, totalling EUR 404,8 million. Previously, 39 projects had been selected for funding, totalling EUR 1 billion in CEF Blending funding.
CEF Transport SESAR call is another competitive call under which proposed projects were selected.
Photo: ÖBB
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