The European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Union's long-term financing institution, announces two loans totalling EUR 70 million (1) for setting up regional solid waste management systems and expanding the power transmission and supply grid in Tunisia. The solid waste management project represents the Bank's first operation in this sector in North Africa and the Middle East.
EUR 25 million has been made available to the Republic of Tunisia for developing solid waste management systems throughout the country via construction of nine controlled landfills and 17 waste transfer centres. The project financed comprises the study, design, supply, construction, commissioning and operation of nine priority environmental infrastructure schemes. These will be implemented by the National Environmental Protection Agency (ANPE) in close cooperation with the Ministry for the Environment and Land Development and local authorities. Forming part of the national solid waste management programme (PRONAGDES), the project will improve the quality of life for 2.5 million people in 83 municipalities in nine governorates (Djerba, Gabès, Mednine, Monastir, Nabeul, Sfax, Sousse, Kairouan and Bizerte). This flagship national project will enhance Tunisia's attractiveness as a tourist destination and provide an excellent model for similar investment programmes in the Mediterranean region.
EUR 45 million has been advanced to Société Tunisienne de l'Électricité et du Gaz (STEG) for a series of schemes to expand Tunisia's power transmission and supply network throughout the country. This loan follows on from an initial EUR 45 million made available for the same project in 1998. Set up in 1962, STEG is responsible for power generation, transmission and supply in Tunisia. The various components of the project, whose implementation spans the period 1998-2001, will serve to meet the growing demand for electricity in Tunisia while markedly improving the reliability of supplies and substantially reducing losses in the network. Tunisia's power grid is interconnected with the North African transmission system, linking Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. This network is connected to the European Union through the Morocco-Spain link-up, for which the EIB has provided a loan of EUR 80 million.
The EIB is a lead player in implementing the EU's "Euro-Mediterranean Partnership" and its priority objectives. In this context, a mandate has been handed down for the period 2000-2007 to provide up to EUR 6 425 million of funding for projects in the twelve Mediterranean partner countries that have signed cooperation and/or association agreements with the EU. The Framework Contract governing the EIB's operations in Tunisia under this mandate was signed in July 1997.
Since it began operations in Tunisia in 1978, the EIB has lent over EUR 1 billion in all to finance various industrial, agricultural-processing, transport and environmental projects, including EUR 85 million in the form of risk capital. The EIB has been managing risk capital on behalf of the EU since the end of the 1980s.
(1) EUR 1 = USD 0.87650, GBP 0.596700, TND 1.25050