Estonia. City of Tartu
| Date of agreement: | 29 Nov 2017 |
|---|---|
| Country: | Estonia |
| Customer: | City of Tartu |
| Amount in EUR: | EUR 20 million |
| NACE sector / loan type: | Construction |
Project
The loan has been provided to finance a municipal urban development programme for 2017–2021. The agreed amount of financing from NIB includes an EUR 8 million investment in debt securities issued by the City of Tartu with a maturity specified in the issue, and a EUR 12 million loan facility at the city’s disposal with a maturity of up to 20 years.
The municipal investment programme is earmarked for improving road infrastructure and modernising schools and day care centres. The total amount of investment is expected to reach EUR 45 million.
The city will construct streets, car parks in the vicinity of the city’s railway station, and pedestrian and cycling roads connecting some residential areas to the station. The educational infrastructure development includes building one new day care centre and reconstructing three existing ones and ten schools.
With 97,000 inhabitants, Tartu is Estonia’s second largest city. Since the city is home to the country’s largest university, close to a third of the city’s population are people younger than 30 years old.
Fulfilment of NIB's mandate
The investments will improve urban infrastructure in the city. The transport sector is one of the focus areas of Estonia’s Climate Policy due to its significant share of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions. The improved infrastructure is expected to increase safety for pedestrians and cyclists, and prompt switching from car to bicycle or travelling short distances by foot, which would lead to some reduction of CO2 emissions and noise in the city.
The improvements in educational infrastructure are aimed at enlarging the capacity of day care centres and schools and increasing energy efficiency in their buildings. The energy performance level of the new day care centre will be designed to comply with the nearly zero-energy building standard, as required for all new public buildings from 2018 onwards. The renovated day care centres and schools are expected to achieve an energy performance level of 113–190 kWh/m2. All the buildings will be properly insulated, and modern ventilation and lighting systems will be installed to meet the current technical standards.
Sustainability summary
The investments are assessed to be compliant with NIB’s Sustainability Policy, and the review is based on the assumption that the planned investments do not require an environmental impact assessment.
