€1,27 loans for infrastructure

The European Investment Bank (EIB) Has Agreed to Make infrastructure-related loans totaling € 1,27 billion to Romania, Spain and the UK.

In Romania the EIB is providing a € 300 million loan for repairs to roads that were damaged by floods in 2005. The loan will finance repairs to roads, bridges and road embankments, as well as the reconstruction of riverbanks and preventive measures to reduce the risk of flood damage in the future. The loan involves emergency funds of € 75 million to be allocated by local authorities immediately.

The EIB is also providing Romania with a € 550 million loan for priority railway and motorway infrastructure. About € 300 million is for upgrading its railway between Simeria and the Hungarian border, while € 250 million is for the construction of a new motorway linking Cernavoda with Constanta. Both sections are located on the major Romanian East-West transport axis along Pan-European Corridor No IV.

In the UK the EIB is providing UK£ 61 million (€ 89 million) to upgrade sections of the M1 and M2 motorways around Northern Ireland's provincial capital, Belfast. The “Westlink” is a priority project and forms part of the trans-European road corridor from the port of Larne in Northern Ireland to Dublin in the Republic of Ireland, along the Eastern coast.

The project will be a Private Public Partnership with Highway Management (city) Finance, a special purpose company led by Germany's Bilfinger Berger BOT. The company will design, build, finance and maintain a section of the motorway, under a 30-year concession.

In the Spanish city of Malaga the EIB will loan € 50 million to Metro de Malaga, a special purpose vehicle set up to build the first part of a Malaga's metro network. The loan is the first part of an € 260 million EIB financing scheme for transport and infrastructure projects in and around the city.

Metro de Malaga won a 35-year concession to design, build, finance and operate an 11,6 km long metro system in the city, which comprises two lines, depot and maintenance facilities, a fleet of vehicles and intermodal facilities.