Helping Polish ex-coal mining city of Wałbrzych revitalize its economy

The Polish city of Wałbrzych, a former coal-mining center, is kick-starting its urban regeneration by joining the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s flagship urban sustainability program EBRD Green Cities.

A first PLN 134.7 million (€30 million equivalent) loan provided by the EBRD will finance a new bypass road and retrofit municipal buildings. Both projects are part of a comprehensive urban regeneration program that the city is undertaking as it moves away from its coal mining past and invests in revitalizing its economy.

On joining the sustainability program, cities undertake a trigger project with EBRD finance – in Wałbrzych’s case, the thermo-modernization of municipal buildings – and also draft a Green Cities Action Plan (GCAP 2.1), setting out further actions to improve the local environment.

The EBRD financing for Wałbrzych is divided into three parts. A first PLN 54.2 million (€12.1 million) will finance the construction of around 6 km of the bypass road. This is a critical part of the city’s transport hub, and of efforts to reintegrate underdeveloped areas and improve interconnectivity with the region. A further PLN 22.5 million (€5 million) is already committed to financing the thermo-modernization and related retrofitting of municipally-owned residential buildings. The third tranche of PLN 58 million (€12.9 million) will be committed alongside a parallel lender financing the same pool of thermo-modernization investments.

The comprehensive refurbishment of municipal buildings will deliver energy savings of around 75 percent, reducing residents’ energy bills and cutting CO2 emissions by almost 80 percent.

(WBJ)