The European Investment Bank (EIB) will lend $53.1 million to finance the second phase of a project to renovate multifamily housing in Bucharest's Sector 4, with the first installment totaling $28.4 million, the bank announced on Monday.

The construction project, which begins this year and is scheduled to continue through 2016, includes improvements to 9,500 apartments in 140 buildings.

The EIB, which is financing up to three quarters of the costs of the program, said the project will help implement the Romanian government's National Energy Efficiency Action Plan and the European Union Resource Efficiency Initiative.

Project backers expect that the work will save up to 50 percent on heating energy consumption in the buildings. 

The EIB loan will move the project forward, following investment by the EIB in 2012.

Project backers estimate that the entire project will cost approximately $75.9 million.