The European Investment Bank is lending EUR 20 million(1) to the City of Torun in Northwestern Poland to upgrade the drinking water and wastewater networks and other schemes. The EIB loan is granted for 20 years and will help reduce pollution and health hazards, and generally raise life quality for a population of some 200 000.
Torun is an old Hanseatic city and the birthplace of Copernicus. Thanks to its historic, cultural and architectural value the city was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1997. The investments are important for developing tourism and generally widen the basis for economic development of the region. They will bring environmental benefits to the Vistula River and ultimately to the Baltic Sea. The European Commission may also participate in the financing under its new grant programme ISPA specifically designed for environmental and transport schemes.
Since 1990 the EIB lent EUR 2.9 billion to projects in Poland, more than in any other Central European country. About 1 billion went to Trans-European road and rail networks (TENs), including some EUR 500 million for upgrading the major international East-west railway line. Telecommunications, gas and industry schemes were also financed. Small and medium-scale industrial and energy investments are being furthered through global loans (credit lines) to commercial banks established in Poland. The EIB also helped with the reconstruction of infrastructure damaged during the 1997 floods in Silesia.
Since 1990, the EIB has lent some EUR 11 billion to projects in the ten Central European EU applicants: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Romania and Bulgaria. In addition, the Bank also participates in the reconstruction of the Balkans where projects were already financed in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegowina and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The EIB plans to double its lending in Central and Eastern Europe to an annual EUR 4 billion over the coming years.
(1) 1 EUR = 0.613400 GBP; 4.03350 PLN.