The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing a EUR 230 million loan to the Municipality of Florence for the implementation of its three-year plan to invest in “smart city projects”. Representatives of the EU bank and the Municipality’s administration signed the framework loan on Thursday morning at the Municipality’s headquarters, Palazzo Vecchio. The term of the loan is 20 years, with interest rates based on the EIB's favourable terms.
The EIB loan will help the city of Florence to finance projects in the following sectors until 2021:
- urban development, restoration and rehabilitation, social housing, parks and open public spaces, and other urban infrastructure;
- sustainable mobility: bus, tram and cycling infrastructure;
- information and communications technology;
- modernisation of public buildings: schools, sports facilities, cultural institutes, public administration buildings.
The loan is mainly designed to support small and medium-scale projects but can also be extended to larger schemes such as the construction of a new phase of the city's tram system (lines 2 and 3) and the Fiera di Firenze exhibition centre (trade fair hub/Fortezza project).
The operation confirms the Municipality of Florence's dynamic use of the financial instruments made available to local authorities by the EIB: since 2000 seven financing operations have been signed for a total of EUR 700 million.