EIB for Belgian and French projects

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is lending €100 million for a new construction project at a hospital in Belgium, and €150 million to finance the first tram line in the French town of Tours.

The hospital, the AZ Maria Middelares in Ghent, will be the first non-university general hospital in Belgium to benefit from a loan from the EIB.

The project will reposition the Sint Jozef and Maria Middelares hospitals in the new buildings on the site of Maria Middelares. There will be about 630 beds in an area of 65,000m² and it is expected to be operational before the end of 2014, providing general and specialised care for the population of Ghent and the whole region.

The EIB will contribute 50% of the total cost of plan.

For the French tramline project, the EIB and the Greater Tours Authority have signed contracts for a 14.8km line which will have 29 stations. An estimated 55,000 users a day are expected to use the service.