The Flemish wastewater purification company, Aquafin, and the European Investment Bank (EIB) have just signed the uptake of a first tranche of €100 million euros as part of a new €200 million euro loan agreement.
This loan is just the first part of the 10th financing agreement since the formation of Aquafin in 1990, and is to be utilised to further build-out and optimise the water purification infrastructure in Flanders.
According to Jan Goossens, General Manager of Aquafin:
“The EIB has always been our most important investor and provides approximately half of our total funding needs in the long-term, from the time when a project is delivered. We are able to make up the other half through financing from institutional investors and other financial institutions. We bridge the period when the projects are being implemented using short-term financing.”
The EIB is paying more attention to the sustainability of the projects it supports these days, and due to this, Aquafin had to demonstrate that at least 25% of the investment value of the projects for which it requested financing will have a clear positive impact on climate change. Even though projects that only involve linking pollutant loads to water purification contribute towards a better living environment, they do not meet the requirements.
The former condition was met fully by Aquafin via optimisation projects that allow us to arm ourselves to deal with climate change and projects for separating rainwater from the waste water infrastructure.
Pim van Ballekom, Vice-President of the EIB who is responsible for Belgium, commented:
“Our collaboration with Aquafin goes back a very long way and represents a clear example of a situation where European loans can have a big impact at the local level, often without many people being aware of it. The EIB has set itself the goal of awarding at least 25% of its loans to climate-related projects, so we are pleased with the high standards that Aquafin is maintaining in that area too.”
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