LISBOA ORIENTAL HOSPITAL PPP

The EIB loan will finance the 30-year Design-Build-Finance-Operate-Maintain (DBFOM) concession of Hospital de Lisboa Oriental (HLO). HLO is a new acute, specialist care and teaching 875-bed hospital to be built in Chelas, in the eastern part of the city. The project is part of the Ministry of Health's hospital modernisation and reconfiguration strategy across the Lisbon area and beyond.

The new hospital will largely substitute six existing hospitals located in the city centre and managed by one entity (Centro Hospitalar de Lisboa Central, EPE - CHLC). Since the project involves both the upgrade of health estate and improvement of service delivery, it falls under the EIB's primary objective "Innovation, digital and human capital" (Health). It is also eligible under Article 309 point (c) "common interest" and under Article 309 point (a) "EIB Cohesion Priority Region".

The project includes the construction of a new hospital replacing six outdated facilities to consolidate all services in one new building. The project will improve the efficiency and quality of healthcare services. The project is in line with EU and EIB policy objectives for the healthcare sector.

The EIB presence provides relevant additionality also from a financial perspective. The Portuguese Authorities have been attempting for decades to implement the Project without success (also with previous EIB involvement). The favourable financial conditions as well as the structuring expertise of the EIB will generate a crowd-in effect of commercial lender, ensuring that the Project can obtain sufficient funds at adequate conditions for its deployment. The Bank can indeed provide longer financing tenors than commercial banks, aligning maturities to the economic life of the investment. The lack of EIB presence may pose at risk the timely implementation of this extremely needed infrastructure in the city of Lisbon, perpetuating the use of outdated and cost-inefficient hospitals.

Hospitals are not explicitly mentioned in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Directive 2011/92/EU as amended by 2014/52/EU, though the project is covered by Annex II of the Directive concerning urban development. The compliance with requirements of the EIA Directive 2011/92/EU as amended by 2014/52/EU on EIA and Habitats Directive will be verified during appraisal. In line with Directive 2010/31/EU, the public building will have to meet at least the relevant national targets on energy efficiency. The energy performance of the hospital building will be verified during appraisal. The project will bring overall benefits to the community, as healthcare is an element of social cohesion and economic development.

The Bank will require the Promoter to ensure that contracts for the implementation of the project have been and will be tendered in line with the relevant applicable EU procurement legislation (Directives 2014/24/EC and/or 2014/23/EC as well as Directives 89/665/EEC and 92/13/EEC) as interpreted by the Court of Justice of the EU, with publication of tender notices in the EU Official Journal, as and where required. The open tender for the HLO Management Contract was published in OJ/S S243, subsequently corrected by Notice No 2018/S 116-264386, OJ/S S116, 20.06.2018, by which the deadline for submission was extended.