Railway PRO

16
Metropolitan
EIB launches first investment
programme for intelligent cities
[ by Pamela Luică ]
Over 70% of Europe’s citizens live in urban environments, increasing agglomerations that create both
opportunities and challenges. For example, while smaller towns generate around 85% of the GDP,
they consume 75% of the produced energy, being responsible for 80% of carbon dioxide emissions,
the European Investment Bank explains. Large cities and smaller towns are the core of the sustainable,
intelligent and inclusive strategy, “Europe 2020”. By 2020, EU wants to reduce CO 2
emissions by 20% and
to generate 20% of the renewable energy consumption, while optimising energy efficiency by 20%.
I
n this context, the European Investment
Bank (EIB) and Belfius Bank
have developed the programme
“Smart Cities & Sustainable Development”
aimed at providing assistance and financial
support to larger and smaller cities for
their sustainable and intelligent mobility,
urban development, but also for energy efficiency
projects. Within this programme,
the authorities in Belgium will be the first
in Europe (the programme already began
in June) to benefit from preferential instalments
to loans accessed for the implementation
of the “Smart Cities” projects.
“With this programme dedicated to
‘Smart Cities’ projects, we are aiming to
foster a strategic and integrated approach
among public authorities and local decision-makers,
fully in keeping with the
‘Europe 2020’ objectives of the European
Union. This is a first for Belgium and Europe”,
declared EIB Vice-President Pim van
Ballekom.
Thus cities, irrespective of their size, have
no other option but to become “smart” to
stay attractive and therefore they have to
adopt intelligent solutions to reduce the
environmental impact and to rethink resource
access examples while satisfying the
citizens’ requirements.
With this goal and in order to support the
cities in Belgium, Belfius and EIB launched
in June, the “Smart Cities & Sustainable
Development Programme”, a programme
dedicated to the implementation of sustainable
and intelligent projects such as
transport and mobility, urban development
and energy efficiency.
The two parties grant EUR 400 Million
to the programme (of which EIB will cover
Photo: eib.org
50% and Belfius Bank 50%) to Belgian authorities,
as loans under preferential conditions
concerning EIB funds. The objective
is to minimize loan costs for municipalities
to support an innovating and sustainable
approach.
“With this programme we are trying
to bring a real added value to local communities
by encouraging and supporting
projects. The ‘Smart Cities & Sustainable
Development’ Programme focuses on both
large and smaller cities and it will obviously
also be of indirect benefit to many businesses,
which, as suppliers to the public
authorities, will provide the technical solutions
required to implement the projects”,
declared Dirk Gyselinck, Member of Belfius
Bank’s Management Committee.
ЕИБ запускает первую
инвестиционную схему
для умных городов
Европейский инвестиционный банк
(ЕИБ) и Банк Белфиус разработали
программу «Умные города и устойчивое
развитие», целью которой является
оказание поддержки и финансовой
помощи крупным и небольшим городам,
включая малые города, ввиду обеспечения
устойчивой и умной мобильности,
городского развития, но и для
осуществления проектов, направленных
на энергоэффективность. В рамках
указанной программы, власти Бельгии
будут первыми в Европе (программа
началась с июня месяца), которые будут
пользоваться преференциальными
условиями платежей в рассрочку на
осуществление проектов «Умных
городов».
www.railwaypro.com | August 2014