Road

The European Investment Bank (EIB) will extend financial support to the construction of a 12km A11 motorway link connecting Brugge and Westkapelle in Belgium, under the EC-EIB Project Bond Initiative.

The A11 motorway will provide a direct link between the port of Zeebrugge and the Europe’s motorway network.

The existing stretch witnesses heavy traffic, thereby providing delayed access to freight traffic to Zeebrugge and the Belgian coast.

EIB vice-president Pim van Ballekom said: "The A11 scheme is expected to significantly reduce congestion for freight and tourist traffic, fill a missing link in the Belgian motorway network and we are pleased to work with public and private partners to support construction of the project."

The completed A11 is expected to help increase tourism along the East Flanders coast, supporting the growth of the regional economy in the long term.

The road is the first transport project and the first greenfield PPP in Europe to benefit from the project bond initiative, jointly developed by the European Commission and EIB.

"We are pleased to work with public and private partners to support construction of the project."

The EIB is providing a subordinated credit facility of €115m in addition to being an anchor investor for €145m of the bond issue.

The A11 motorway project will be funded using the project bond credit enhancement model; €578m of project bonds have been issued for the scheme.

A public-private consortium comprising Via Brugge and Via Invest will finance the design-build-finance-maintain project through the project company Via A11, with the construction expected to be completed over a four-year period.

The A11 scheme is the third infrastructure programme in recent months to be financed under the Project Bond Initiative that aims to support institutional investors that back long-term infrastructure investments.

Image: The A11 scheme is the third infrastructure programme in recent months to be financed under the EC-EIB Project Bond Initiative. Photo: courtesy of dan.