The European Investment Bank is providing EUR 303 million to support investment in education and water improvement in the Region of Valencia.

EIB Vice-President Carlos Da Silva Costa signed a first loan contract of EUR 250 million to upgrade primary, secondary and vocational educational facilities in the Region of Valencia. The facilities form part of the Crea Escola programme comprising the planning, new building, rehabilitation and extension, as well as the provision of furniture and equipment, of educational infrastructures spread throughout the region, which took responsibility for education from the Spanish State in 1990.

A second loan of EUR 53 million will contribute to the construction and upgrading of wastewater treatment infrastructure. The project comprises 59 investment schemes to expand and improve wastewater treatment capacity, including two new wastewater treatment plants.

Teaching facilities that meet modern needs increase the quality and effectiveness of education. The schools also deliver formal and informal education for adults, hence preventing and combating social exclusion of particularly vulnerable groups (fast-growing immigrants, unqualified workers,etc.), and promoting equal opportunities in the widest sense.

Crea Escola concerns the design and construction of 97 new primary schools and of 54 new secondary schools; the upgrading and expansion of 76 existing primary schools and of 66 existing secondary schools. It will eliminate 386 pre-fabricated classrooms spread over 215 primary and 171 secondary schools. A double shift system in use because of scarcity of school accommodation will be corrected with the present project. Connections to the Internet and to the educational network are in line with the targets defined in the eLearning Action Plan of the European Commission. Overall 154,600 students will be affected by the programme.

Water sector investment will reduce pollution through the improvement of the quality of the effluent that is discharged into the sensitive areas, and will make more efficient use of natural resources in a region with water scarcity.

The investments include the extension and improvement of the wastewater collection network and of the treatment capacity, as well as the expansion and upgrading of wastewater treatment plants.

The schemes are located throughout Valencia, whose economic development is clearly linked to the availability of scarce water resources, and to the environmental conservation of the coastal waters. The schemes are expected to be completed by the end of 2009.