Europe’s EIB funds Cyprus urban, waste projects

The European Investment Bank, the EU's financing arm, signed a 180 mln euro financing deal with Cyprus on Thursday for waste-water and urban development projects.
Some 140 mln euros will go towards sewerage systems and waste water treatment on the island, which suffers from chronic water shortages. It is part of an EIB credit line of 290 mln euros made available for the project.
The project itself has an overall investment cost of 800 mln, linking many small communities to central sewerage systems and introducing wastewater treatment to protect scarce water resources, the EIB said.
The remaining 40 mln of the 180 mln euros would concentrate on construction within the capital Nicosia's medieval city.
Separately, the European Investment Fund (EIF) and the Bank of Cyprus signed a 20 mln agreement for the financing of small businesses in Cyprus. The EIF is the risk financing arm of the EIB.
The lending facility will be open to micro and small business, particularly in research and development, renewable energy, information and communications technology sectors.
Projects financed by the facility will obtain longer repayment and grace periods, potentially lower collateral requirements and lower interest rates, the EIF said. Interest rates could be up to 2.5% lower compared to current market levels.
Bank of Cyprus was selected as financial intermediary by the EIF after a call for an expression of interest process. A second process is ongoing to offer selected financial intermediaries credit risk protection on a new SME loan portfolio.