The European Investment Bank (EIB) is lending EUR 27 million to the Slovak Republic to finance a final 3.9 km stretch of the motorway by-pass to the South of Bratislava which connects Pan-European corridors V and IV. EIB is co-financing the project with ISPA, the European Union's grant programme in support of environmental and transport infrastructure projects in the future EU Member States.
Commenting on the loan, EIB-Vice-President Wolfgang Roth said: This road project yields substantial economic, environmental and European integration benefits and is ranked as one of the highest priorities for early implementation by Bratislava and Brussels.'
The loan brings total EIB financing in Slovakia to nearly EUR 1.8 billion. In addition to transport schemes, the rehabilitation of a gas pipeline and gas storage facilities, the refurbishment of a coal-fired power station (Vojany), fixed and mobile telecommunications networks, in the capital a new bridge over the Danube, a waste incineration plant and the Volkswagen plant near Bratislava were financed. The EIB also opened credit lines to several banks in Slovakia which are using the funds for financing a growing number of SMEs in industry and services as well as some small-scale infrastructure schemes.
So far the EIB has lent some EUR 20 billion in the future EU Members in Central Europe: Poland (6 billion), the Czech Republic (3.8 billion), Romania (2.8 billion), Hungary (2.7 billion), Slovakia (1.8 billion), Slovenia (1.2 billion), Bulgaria (1.1 billion), Lithuania (300 million), Latvia (331 million) and Estonia (250 million).