Sustainable mobility: the European Metropolis of Lille obtains 276 million euros from …

Published on September 26, 2024 by Anne Lenormand, Localtis

Europe and international, Transport and low-carbon mobility

To finance the “Mel in Green Mobility” project to modernize its urban transport, the European Metropolis of Lille (MEL) did a double blow by obtaining a green loan of 245 million euros from the European Investment Bank (EIB). ) and a grant of €31.5 million from the European Commission under the Public Sector Loan Facility (PSLP) set up under the Just Transition Mechanism (JTM) provided for by the European Green Deal (read our box).

The Lille project firstly provides for investments in the modernization of the public transport fleet with the renewal of 30 tram trains and 42 buses with new clean vehicles. It also includes investments in platforms, depots and other related equipment, the financing of a new high-level of service bus line and the construction of a multimodal interchange hub. Finally, it accompanies an ambitious cycling plan which provides for 220 km of additional infrastructure over the period 2023-2027.

“This project thus aims to accelerate changes in user behavior by developing a more qualitative and sustainable mobility offer, by improving accessibility to public transport and by expanding the possibilities of soft mobility, underline the MEL, the EIB and the Commission European Union in a joint press release Once completed, it will improve the performance of the tram and bus network, promote intermodality (reduction in the share of individual vehicles, which will go from 56% in 2023 to 40% in 2035) and strengthen. the diversity of metropolitan public transport means.” Increased network efficiency for some 410,000 daily trips should result in substantial time savings for users, a reduction in road congestion and better access to the Metropolis, believe the three stakeholders.

Mechanism for a just transition: a system that deserves to be known

As Sophie Barbier, director of the Europe department within the institutional, international and European relations department of Caisse des Dépôts, reminded us, this “facility is dedicated to projects which have an economic model, but whose own revenue flows are insufficient to cover investment costs.

To be able to benefit from the system, two main conditions must be met.

First, be part of the territories eligible for the just transition mechanism: in France, the departments of Bouches-du-Rhône, Nord and Pas-de-Calais as well as several territories in the Grand Est, Normandy (valleys of Seine and Bresle), Pays de la Loire (Pays de Cordemais) and Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (chemistry valley and Grenoble conurbation).

Then, obtain financing in parallel from the EIB (loan greater than 12.5 million euros) or from one of the latter’s intermediaries, such as the Caisse des Dépôts in France (loan greater than 3 million euros) . Keeping in mind that it is the logic of “first come, first served” which prevails! No time to lose, therefore, since Lille has just been allocated a large part of the 78 million euros so far earmarked for France. Frédéric Fortin / Epic Communication for Localtis