282 blocks have been approved for rehabilitation under stage II of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan

An organisation has been set up in the MRDPW to overcome the legacy problems of Phase I

282 multi-family residential buildings in 65 municipal and district administrations have been approved for renovation under procedure BG-RRP-4.024 “Support for Sustainable Energy Renovation of the Residential Building Stock - Phase II” within the National Recovery and Sustainability Plan. The total amount of funds for this procedure is BGN 282 470 400 including VAT.

A total of 307 project proposals were received from 67 municipal and district administrations for a total amount of BGN 152 027 168,23. The start of the procedure was given on 02 June 2023 and the opportunity to apply was given to all owners of multi-family residential buildings on the territory of the whole country, which are managed under the Condominium Management Act and were designed before 26 April 1999. Approved buildings will receive up to 80% grant aid, and the owners' association should ensure its own participation through its own financial resources in the amount of 20% of the value of the eligible project costs.

It is expected that BGN 138 061 087,48 including VAT will be invested in energy efficiency measures in the approved blocks. Of this, the grant of up to 80% is BGN 109 050 894.10 and the remaining BGN 29 010 193.38 is the own contribution of the owners' associations - final beneficiaries.

16 project proposals were rejected as non-responsive and 9 others were withdrawn.

The main objective of the programme is to improve the energy performance of residential buildings, to reach energy consumption class “B” of multi-family residential buildings, to reduce the energy consumption of the country, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to achieve 30% primary energy savings for each site of the residential building stock, to reduce energy poverty by reducing energy costs, to improve living conditions and quality of life through technological renovation and modernization of the building stock, etc.

In connection with the large number of questions about the implementation of investments under the procedure “Support for sustainable energy renovation of the residential building stock - stage I”, under which the grant is 100%, the caretaker government set up an organization to overcome the legacy problems. These are mainly related to delays in the whole appraisal process, including the handling of objections received and, consequently, the signing of the grant contracts for the approved project proposals. This has created a significant risk for the final implementation of the investment under Phase I, which has a final implementation deadline of 30 June 2026.

“Driven by the high public interest, measures have been taken to accelerate the work and finalize the process in a timely manner to prevent the loss of funding under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan,” says Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Eng. Violeta Koritarova.

As of this moment 44 contracts have been signed and uploaded in ISMM, amounting to the total value of the grant – BGN 60 738 201,14 with the municipalities of Samokov, Novi Pazar, Beloslav, Mezdra, Topolovgrad, Dragoman, Omurtag, Silistra, Lom and Svishtov.

Under Phase I, a total of 3,068 investment proposals were received by the MRDPW by 1 June 2023, of which 15 were withdrawn. 756 projects have been approved for funding in December 2023. The total available grant for them is BGN 1 128 649 945, 76. There are 2178 projects left in the reserve list, which have been approved for funding, but the resource is not enough.

Separately, nearly BGN 200 million from the Development of Regions Programme 2021-2027 managed by the MRDPW will be invested in energy efficiency of multi-family residential buildings in the districts affected by the energy transition - Stara Zagora, Pernik and Kyustendil.

Under the procedure “Support for energy renovation of buildings in the field of production, trade and services” under the National Recovery and Sustainability Plan, 29 financing contracts were signed for a total value of BGN 16,390,304.19, of which BGN 8,012,981.51 were allocated under the Recovery and Sustainability Plan and BGN 8,377,322.68 were co-financing by the final recipients. Under the procedure “Support for sustainable energy renovation of public building stock for administrative services, culture and sports”, 282 financing contracts were signed for a total value of BGN 453,516,951.83, of which BGN 389,080,558.18 were funds allocated under the Recovery and Sustainability Plan and BGN 64,436,393.65 were co-financing by the final recipients.