The loan will contribute to the implementation of the Health Care Action Plan of the Municipality of Budapest, focused on the reform of the city's hospital system on a regional basis, the structural reorganisation of the health care system as well as the creation of an optimal institutional structure, allowing providing services more effectively and economically. The loan forms part of a wider hospital master planning exercise that was initiated by the EIB together with the World Bank in the Central Region of Hungary.
EIB funds will serve for the reconstruction of the Csepel Outpatient Clinic as well as the restructuring of three hospitals: Szent Imre, Bajcsy-Zsilinszky and Uzsoki. These hospitals are being developed as a significant component of the network of Budapest regional professional health care centres providing services to some 1.8 million inhabitants.
The current financing represents a part of the Budapest Infrastructure and Services Loan of EUR 370 million approved by the Bank in 2002 that has been focused on the implementation of priority projects in the Hungarian Capital in the areas of transport, health and education as well as urban regeneration. It continues the successful cooperation of the EIB with the Municipality of Budapest that has resulted for the time being to loans amounting to some EUR 1.5 billion for projects like the construction of the Metro IV line (EUR 875 million), the construction and operation of the new Budapest Central Wastewater Treatment Plant at Csepel Island (EUR 194 million) etc.
The task of the EIB, the European Union's financing institution, is to contribute towards the integration, balanced development and economic and social cohesion of the Member States. Outside the Union, the EIB implements the financial components of agreements concluded under European development aid and cooperation policies.
The support for the health and education sectors, as for example the EUR 100 million loan for the DIAKHITEL Student Loan Scheme of 2005, is in accordance with the EIB priority to help strengthen economic competitiveness providing for a healthier and better-educated population. The EIB lending in Hungary has reached some EUR 6 billion since 1990. The major share of this sum supported transport infrastructure projects (40%), followed by loans for SMEs (23%) and financing in energy and telecommunication sectors (14%) and water and environment areas (10%).