HELABA PS PROJECTS IN KASSEL

The project consists of an intermediate loan to finance the construction of a secondary school building for 900 students as well as a fire brigade in the city of Kassel.

The aim is to contribute to improve educational facilities as well as the quality and the attractiveness of the public spaces. The fire brigade and rescue station will promote the city's resilience and civil protection, in line with the municipality's climate adaptation goals.

The Project concerns the construction of a new school building and a fire and rescue station in the City of Kassel. The Project is well embedded in the City's urban development and sectorial strategies. It is a strategic investment to enhance the City's resilience and the citizens' quality of life.

The Project creates positive externalities as it will promote access to high-quality public education, which benefits society and the broader economy, mainly in terms of skills development and upgrading. Additionally, the investments targeting climate change mitigation will also have significant positive externalities, as they contribute to reducing GHG emissions. Finally, the Project supports services of overriding public interest that concern public goods and reduce negative externalities, and therefore would not be supplied adequately through competitive markets. The Project therefore helps correcting a market failure.

By being able to offer stable and long-term funding at competitive rates, a financial advantage is generated through the EIB's intervention which is transferred partially to the final beneficiary, for example in the form of reduced interest rate payable.

Directive 2011/92/EU amended by 2014/52/EU on Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) does not specifically cover educational activities, leaving it at the discretion of the responsible competent authorities to request an EIA on the basis of the location and scale of the works concerned. However, educational facilities may fall under Annex II of the Directive with respect to Urban Development. The Bank's services will verify during appraisal whether an EIA is required by the competent authority. The public buildings will be required to at least meet the energy efficiency targets as defined in Directive 2010/31/EU on the energy performance of buildings and Directive 2012/27/EU on energy efficiency.

In accordance with the Bank's policy to ensure that the loan complies with the EU acquis, in particular in the fields of public procurement, the Bank will require such intermediary institution to take all requisite measures to ensure that the procurement procedures carried out by the final beneficiary for the project that the Bank finances will comply with the relevant EU legislation and the applicable national legislation, provided that it is in conformity with EU rules.