On 5 July, Benoît de Rosamel, Regional Director, Méditerranée, for La Banque Postale, Jean-Marc Roubaud, President of Grand Avignon and Mayor of Villeneuve-lez-Avignon, and Daniel Bellegarde, Vice President of Grand Avignon in charge of transport, formalised the partnership with the signing of a financing agreement for €61 million. After launching a call for tenders for banking services in April 2017, Grand Avignon chose La Banque Postale as its partner to finance work on its tram line.
The loan will help fund an initial section of 5.2 km running from Saint-Roch to Saint-Chamand, through the avenue Saint-Ruf and the ring road. The construction project, which has already begun the network diversion and renovation phase (water, electricity, gas, telephone, fibre optic), is scheduled to continue until 2019. Commissioning is planned for summer 2019.
As a local bank, La Banque Postale has a strong presence in Vaucluse and the PACA region, both with business customers and with public or private institutional players.
In 2016, by granting more than €9 billion in loans to local authorities, La Banque Postale became the leading lender for local authorities and public hospitals.