With this loan of EUR 100 million, the EIB reaffirms its support for the Municipality of Florence’s investment projects. The credit line will finance projects provided for under the Municipality’s three-year plan (2009-2011), chiefly in the transport, health, education and cultural heritage sectors. In the past, the Bank has financed urban renewal, environmental protection and transport projects undertaken by the Municipality of Florence amounting to EUR 375 million.
The new EIB loan will finance sustainable mobility (development of the tram network), road maintenance and repair work, the construction of cycle paths, car parks and bus lanes, and the restoration and upgrading of public buildings, schools and sports facilities to comply with safety standards.
Projects in the cultural heritage sector will include the restoration of monuments, historical buildings, museums and arts centres.
The loan will also serve to fund the rehabilitation and expansion of public parks, the construction and rehabilitation of children’s playgrounds, and projects in other specific areas. It may also be used to finance the construction of social amenities and residences for the disabled.
“This operation, the EIB’s fourth with the Municipality of Florence, confirms our confidence in the soundness of the development plans put forward by this administration”, remarked EIB Vice-President Dario Scannapieco. “The measures provided for under the investment programme will help to substantially bolster the city’s economic activity, thereby improving the urban environment and quality of life of people living in and visiting Florence”.
Note to editors
The European Investment Bank (EIB) supports the political and strategic objectives of the European Union by granting long-term loans for economically sound investment projects. The EIB’s shareholders are the 27 EU Member States. Italy is one of the four leading shareholders, along with the United Kingdom, Germany and France, each holding a 16.2% stake in the Bank. In 2007, the EIB advanced loans amounting to EUR 47.8bn, of which EUR 5.6bn to Italy, and it raised EUR 54.7bn. The EIB’s financing priorities within the EU are social and economic cohesion and convergence; research and innovation; trans-European networks (TENs); small and medium-sized enterprises; environmental protection and “sustainable communities” (urban environment), under which heading the loan to the Municipality of Florence comes; andsustainable energy supplies.
Florence, which has around 370 000 inhabitants, is the administrative capital of Tuscany and the main focus of a sizeable metropolitan area with a population of more than 600 000. Renowned internationally as a city of art, Florence also boasts a diversified local economy, based on a well developed services sector and a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises.