The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) will lend EUR10 million to municipally owned transport firm PoltavaElektroAvtoTrans to buy 40 trolleybuses along with diagnostic equipment and to upgrade traction substations, EBRD Senior Advisor on External Affairs Anton Usov has said.

"Poltava will receive up to 40 new energy-efficient and environmentally friendly low-floor trolleybuses thanks to an EBRD loan worth EUR 10 million. This project will be the first disbursement under the EBRD's new EUR 250 million program to finance public transport in Ukraine," he wrote on Facebook on Tuesday.

The loan will allow the city to buy equipment with improved accessibility, which will be almost 25% more energy efficient than existing trolleybuses, as well as equipment for maintenance and diagnostics. Part of the loan will be used to upgrade the traction substations, he said.

"The project will also help reduce emissions of carbon and nitrogen oxides. The investment program will complement the grant funding of the EU Municipal Support Program in the amount of almost EUR 50,000," he said.

The EBRD on May 21, 2019, announced its intention to provide financing in the amount of EUR 250 million for the implementation of the second project to update public transport infrastructure in Ukrainian cities.

The first program was approved by the EBRD in October 2015, under which EUR 100 million was allocated to several Ukrainian cities. The first such project was a EUR 8 million loan for Odesa.