Further €200 million from EIB to strengthen Istanbul’s resilience to earthquakes

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is providing €200 million to the Republic of Turkey as follow up support to earthquake risk mitigation efforts in Istanbul, Turkey’s commercial and financial centre.

The EIB funds are being provided in the framework of the Istanbul Seismic Risk Mitigation and Emergency Preparedness Project (ISMEP), launched in 2006, in a proactive approach to managing earthquake risks through prevention and mitigation, with the hindsight of the catastrophic Marmara earthquake in 1999. ISMEP is co-funded by the EIB and other International Finance Institutions (IFIs), including the World Bank, Council of Europe Bank (CEB) and the Islamic Development Bank (IDB).

Within ISMEP, the EIB focuses primarily on public sector buildings for healthcare services and education.

EIB efforts to create a better and safer urban environment in the region started immediately after the 1999 earthquake in the form of urgent support for rehabilitation and reconstruction. They continued in 2006 with a first EIB loan of €300m, signed in 2008, in support of the ISMEP initiative to increase Istanbul’s preparedness to face possible future earthquakes. This first EIB loan has been used for the reconstruction of 60 schools and a hospital, as well as the strengthening of the building structure of 54 schools and 20 healthcare facilities.

This new EIB loan was signed on the day of the Marmaray tunnel inauguration ceremony. On this occasion EIB President stated: “On the 90th anniversary of the Turkish Republic, I would like to stress that the EIB is proud to be a long term partner of Turkey. Today, I am pleased to look to past and future EIB activity in the country. The EIB has provided a total of EUR 1.05 billion for Marmaray, a milestone project for Turkey that the EIB has actively supported over the last nine years. The tunnel is of crucial importance for the integration of Turkey into the European Union and the development of its transport network. Our commitment to connect Europe and Asia across the Bosporus began in 1968 with a loan of EUR 20 million equivalent for the first suspension bridge. Today, we are also signing a second loan to further support the resilience to earthquakes of this historic city, helping to create a safe urban environment for the people of Istanbul”.

Background information

The European Investment Bank (EIB) is the long-term lending institution of the European Union owned by its Member States. It makes long-term finance available for sound investment in order to contribute towards EU policy goals.

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