Luxembourg, 17/07/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Investment Bank (EIB) has just provided a EUR 11 million loan from risk capital resources for the rehabilitation of the Réseau Nord in Madagascar. Reinstating and increasing capacity and improving safety, quality and reliability, will bring back the commercial utility, by means of a private concession regime, of the rail connection between the port of Toamasina with the cities of Antananarivo, Antsirabe, Moramanga and the chrome mine at Lake Alaotra. The project marks the successful conclusion of the privatisation of the country's main railway system. The concession holder is MADARAIL S.A., majority-owned by a holding company controlled by COMAZAR, the South African railway operator who will assume overall operational responsibility. MADARAIL is also the borrower for EIB's loan which has a duration of 20 years and is remunerated on the basis of a combination of fixed and performance-linked elements. Following the entry into force of the Cotonou Agreement/Investment Facility in April 2003, this loan to MADARAIL is the last project signed in Madagascar in the framework of the second protocol of Lome IV.