Luxemburg, 12/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - The European Investment Bank (EIB) has just launched a programme of loans to local authorities in Greece with a €230 million loan to the Municipality of Kozani. This first direct EIB loan to local authorities in Greece will support a number of small and medium sized investments in Kozani, designed in response to demographic pressures and the need to diversify the city's economic base in order to promote economic development and regeneration, as well as to improve the quality of life.
The greater Kozani area, including Ptolemaida and Aminteo is the most heavily industrialised region in Greece after Attiki and Thessaloniki. The town, which is developing into a nodal town of South East Europe, with activities of a wider regional nature, has been experiencing high population growth rates, which resulted in high urban density and hence compromised the structure of the old part of the city. To improve the quality of life and secure future prosperity, the Municipality is going ahead with the expansion of the town with a “Zone of Alternative Urban Planning” (ZEP) on a site of some 51 hectares, south-west of Kozani and close to the Egnatia motorway. The EIB loan will not only support investments in public infrastructure in the ZEP, a prerequisite for encouraging private sector developments, but will also be available to support infrastructure schemes to be implemented by DEYAK S.A. (the company responsible for the town water supply, waste treatment and district heating network) and urban development schemes implemented directly by the Municipality.
In a press release, the EIB says that this loan will allow the Municipality to fund its investments at a cost that is lower than its traditional funding sources whilst the long term nature of the loan will enable it to spread the budgetary impact over a longer period. In Greece, local authorities are expected to assume an increased role in carrying out local infrastructure investments, favouring an increased prioritisation in investments. EIB participation in the financing of the investment programmes of local authorities in Greece can play therefore an important role in the future. (ol)