Central, Eastern and South-Eastern European countries plan their transport infrastructures

Geneva

The countries participating in the UNECE-sponsored TEM and TER Projects are elaborating a Master Plan aimed at the development of their priority transport infrastructure. The TEM and TER Master Plan is intended to identify main bottlenecks, missing links and other priority infrastructure needs in their road, rail and combined transport networks, and design a realistic investment strategy to meet those needs.

Austria, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Serbia and Montenegro, Slovakia, Slovenia, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey and Ukraine are expected to have an active participation in the Master Plan's work. The EU Commission, the World Bank, the EBRD, the EIB and other international organizations have also been invited to participate.

The elaboration of the TEM and TER Master Plan, which started in October 2003, has been divided in 9 work packages, of which 2 have already been completed. Two groups of governmental experts, with the support of two independent consultants, will be collecting and analyzing the relevant information and preparing proposals. The work is expected to be completed by September 2004.

The TEM and TER Master Plan, which is funded by the TEM and TER's own budgets and by the International Road Transport Union (IRU) as far as the road component is concerned, is expected to provide a useful contribution to the work of the European Commission on the development of the Trans-European Transport Networks (TEN-T) in the new EU member countries and to the future development of Transport Corridors outside the EU.

The Trans-European North-South Motorway (TEM) and Trans-European Railway (TER) Projects are sub-regional frameworks under the aegis of the UNECE (Geneva), where the Governments of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern European countries work together for the development of modern motorways, railways and combined transport infrastructure in the region. The activities of the Projects are supported by the contributions of 13 (for TEM) and 16 (for TER) member countries.

For additional information please contact:

Mr. Jose Capel Ferrer, Director, or

Mr. Michalis P. Adamantiadis, Regional Adviser

UNECE Transport Division

Palais des Nations

CH - 1211 Geneva 10

Phone: +41(0)22 917 24 01, 917 11 28

Fax: +41(0)22 917 00 39

E-mail: Jose.Capel.Ferrer@unece.org

Michalis.Adamantiadis@unece.org

Web site:  http://www.unece.org/trans

Ref: ECE/TRANS/04/N01