EIB finances repairs and prevention
THE EUROPEAN Investment Bank ( EIB) is financing the Valencia government with € 100 million in loans to reconstruct infrastructures that were damaged by the DANA and by Storm Gloria in early 2020.
As well as restoring the productive capacity, potential for tourism and public services of affected places, the loans will fund investments to prevent flooding and improve the response to future severe weather phenomena.
The EIB and the regional government have signed over the first € 50 million tranche of this financing, which is principally for reconstruction of infrastructures for water supply, sanitation, sewage treatment, drainage, and irrigation channels. It will also be used for rebuilding roads, touristic and coastal infrastructures, and public buildings including health centres, hospitals and schools. Many of these jobs are already underway or have been completed.
They plan to sign over a second tranche of the same amount which would fundamentally be for prevention and response measures, such as constructing green corridors; pumping systems and polders;
environmental interventions and improving drainage structures; and establishing systems to warn the population.
It is estimated that all these investments will create more than 1,500 jobs between 2019 and 2025.
EIB vice- president Emma Navarro said last Thursday that they are the EU’s climate bank, so one of their objectives is to facilitate projects that will mitigate and enable adaptation to the effects of climate change.
As well as reinforcing the Valencia region’s climate resilience, these investments will stimulate economic recovery and create jobs, she added.
Regional councillor for the treasury, Vicent Soler said: “Experts define the Mediterranean as ground zero for the effects of climate change. Increasing
droughts accompanied by episodes of torrential rains, higher temperatures and the increasing temperature of the sea are some of the impacts it will have on the Valencia region.”
The regional government has allocated € 92 million to alleviate the effects of the DANA, noted vice- president Mónica Oltra the following day, and is working to speed up administrative procedures so that aid money reaches people as quickly as possible.
President Ximo Puig said almost all the aid to replace residents’ essential goods has now reached its beneficiaries, with 6,605 out of 8,949 applications resolved. About half the housing aid applications have been approved and almost 100% of repairs to damaged roads have been finished, he added.