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According to the Bank’s website, the framework loan will co-finance a specific part of the investment program of Cologne's wastewater utility (Stadtentwässerungsbetriebe Köln) for the period 2023-2029.
The pipeline includes the construction of a new culvert under the River Rhine, a new sludge transport pipe, a sludge dewatering facility as well as a sludge incineration facility.
The aim is to improve the efficiency and sustainability of Cologne's wastewater services. The new combined sewer culvert under the River Rhine will reduce the risk of sewage spills in the river and enable sufficient capacity for the growing population and the increased intensity in precipitation from climate change.
The investments in a new sludge transport pipe and a sludge dewatering facility linked to the new sludge incinerator comply with the German requirements on sludge disposal after the energy transition discontinues the current co-incineration in a brown coal power plant.
All investments comply with European and German environmental standards. The project will reduce the impact on climate change from wastewater and sludge collection and treatment. Wastewater collection and treatment projects generate positive externalities, including avoided public health costs, environmental benefits of improved water quality and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Overall, these environmental, climate and social benefits would not be achieved to the same extent without public intervention.
The project components do not affect any Natura 2000 areas, but two national protected areas are affected. For the construction of the new culvert, two of the tunnel shafts are located within the national protected area of “Flittarder Rheinaue” and the neighbouring national protected area of “Rhein, Rheinauen und Uferbereiche von Flittard bis Rodenkirchen”.
During the construction period of the new sludge transport pipe and the new culvert under the River Rhine, small temporary negative impacts to the environment are expected, such as noise and dust, which will be mitigated as much as feasible.
During operation, only the new culvert under the River Rhine is expected to have small permanent negative impacts on the environment due to the removal of some vegetation at the location of the access shafts in a national protected area.
To allow the construction of the new culvert, a primary school had to be temporarily moved to another nearby location. The relocation was necessary in order not to expose the school to construction site emissions. The relocation was carried out according to the specifications of the involved offices of the city of Cologne, affecting around 180 persons (pupils and teachers).
The construction of the new sludge transport pipe and the new culvert under the River Rhine may have some temporary negative social impacts during the construction period, such as the possible disruption of utility services and road traffic, noise and temporary occupation of public and private space.
A framework loan.
The Promoter and Borrower of the project is the Stadtentwässerungsbetriebe Köln (StEB Köln). StEB Köln is collecting and treating wastewater from around 1.1 million customers in the City of Cologne.
| Private Actor 1 | Private Actor 1 Role | Private Actor 1 Sector | Relation | Private Actor 2 | Private Actor 2 Role | Private Actor 2 Sector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | - | - | - | Stadtentwässerungsbetriebe Köln (StEB Köln) | Client | - |
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You can submit an information request for project information at: https://www.eib.org/en/infocentre/registers/request-form/request-form-default.htm
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