CEB approves 10 new loans worth €667m
The Council of Europe Development Bank has approved ten new loans totalling more than €667 million. The financing will support environment and social infrastructure projects and improve access to funding for MSMEs.
The loans include a €100 million Public Sector Financing Facility to the Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority, the largest water, sewerage and solid waste utility in Finland, and an additional €80 million to an existing Public Sector Financing Facility to the City of Espoo. The financing for the Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority will back its ten-year investment plan. Specifically, the loan will finance the provision of clean water supply and wastewater services to newly developed districts in the Helsinki metropolitan area as well as wider water and wastewater system resizing and efficiency improvements, associated with the network expansion.
The loan to the City of Espoo will further an ongoing investment programme in the education sector. It will finance the construction of new buildings as well as the restoration, renovation or extension of existing facilities, for the benefit of pupils and pre-school children living in Espoo.
In Lithuania: a €28.8 million Public Sector Financing Facility to Kauno Vandenys (Kaunas Water Company) was agreed to modernise and expand the water supply and the wastewater systems in Kaunas. The investments will contribute to improving health and living conditions for more than 140,000 inhabitants by reducing the currently negative impact of an inadequate wastewater system on surface and ground water bodies as well as by improving the availability and the quality of drinking water.
In France, a €100 million Public Sector Financing Facility to Département de la Gironde and an additional €150 million to an existing Cross-Sectoral Loan to Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations. The will finance the construction as well as the rehabilitation and retrofitting of lower secondary schools and associated facilities.
