Brussels, 29/09/2004 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission decided on Tuesday to subsidise 13 projects under the Marco Polo programme, the aim of which is to encourage the transfer of road freight to other modes of transport which are less harmful to the environment. The 13 projects selected will enable 13.6 billion tonnes/kilometres of road freight to be transferred to sea and rail transport. They will share a budgetary envelope of 15 million EUR and lead to private investment in the region of 360 million EUR not counting infrastructure, said the Commission. It states that every euro of subsidy will save society 15 EUR in external environmental costs. These 13 projects were selected by the Commission after a first call for proposals, at which 92 projects were put forward. An information day will take place on 1 October to present them. This Day will also allow potential candidates to prepare for the second call for proposals, which will be published at the end of September 2004.