EU’s investment bank poised to back Scots hospitals

PROJECTS worth some £200 million are poised to get the green light within weeks from the European Investment Bank (EIB), which has hailed Scotland as an “attractive” investment proposition.

The lender, which is owned by the European Union’s 28 member states, has earmarked about £75m to help fund the relocation of Edinburgh’s Royal Hospital for Sick Children, along with £130m to support the construction of a new general hospital for Dumfries & Galloway.

Jonathan Taylor, one of the EIB’s eight vice-presidents, told Scotland on Sunday that the bank expects to confirm more deals north of the Border in the coming months, having lent in excess of £6 billion across the UK in 2014.

He also insisted that the lender’s activities in Scotland “carried on as normal” during the independence campaign, with Scottish Hydro securing £200m just weeks before the referendum in September to extend and improve its electricity transmission system.

Shortly after the vote, the bank provided Scotia Gas Networks with £400m towards its gas distribution upgrade.

“Some of what we’ve been doing has perhaps been quite low profile, but business carried on as usual throughout the referendum campaign,” said Taylor on a visit to Edinburgh to speak at a MacKay Hannah conference on infrastructure investment.

Describing the two forthcoming hospital deals as “great projects”, he said the current environment in Scotland was positive, but declined to comment on reports that Edinburgh City Council was eyeing European cash as a way to finance an £80m extension to the city’s tram line.

“We don’t comment on preliminary talks with anybody until the point has been reached at which the board has approved it,” he said.