Luxembourg, 06/08/2004 (Agence Europe) - The European Investment Bank (EIB) is to lend EUR 200 million for the construction, around the south-west part of the external Prague bypass, of two motorway sections and corresponding access roads. The bypass is on Corridor IV of the pan-European transport network that links Germany, Prague, Bratislava and Vienna. It will allow increased transit transport capacity around Prague. The south-west section of the Prague bypass will connect with the two main Czech motorways: - to the west, the D5 linking Prague to the German border (towards Nuremberg) and, to the south-west, the D1 in the direction of Brno (the second largest town in the country) and Slovakia.
Since 1990, the EIB, the EU's long-term financing institution, has provided loans totalling over EUR 5.2 billion in favour of projects located in the Czech Republic. Nearly half this amount, i.e. EUR 2.5 billion, has been used to finance modernisation of the country's communication infrastructure.