Minister Lilyana Pavlova: 99% of the funds under Operational Programme Regional Development 2007-2013 have been paid

99% of the funds under Operational Programme Regional Development 2007-2013 have been paid. That was stated by the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works, Mrs. Lilyana Pavlova. Both, Minister Pavlova and Deputy Minister Denitsa Nikolova – head of the Managing Authority of Operational Programmes, held a working meeting with representatives of 39 Bulgarian municipalities – beneficiaries under Priority Axis 1 Sustainable and Integrated Urban Development of Operational Programme Regional Development 2007-2013 and under the Sustainable integrated urban development priority axis of the Operational Programme Regions in Growth 2014-2020.   

The event is part of consecutive meetings on considering practical questions and details regarding the implementation of municipal investment programmes, initiated by the Managing Authority of the Programme.
Minister Pavlova noted that the Operational Programme Regional Development 2007-2013 ends successfully. We managed in the implementation of OPRD extremely successful, however, the most important thing now is to prepare all documents for verification and certification of funds, said she.

The regional minister appealed to the local authorities to be active when they start the projects under the new Operational Programme Regions in Growth 2014-2020. 29 investment programmes have been submitted up to now by the 39 beneficiary cities. Six of these programmes have been approved by the Managing Authority. Mrs. Pavlova said that it is important as soon as possible to start the work on the projects, conduct tender procedures for contractors’ selection so as to implement the projects, because part of them should be finished by 2018. 

Deputy Minister Denitsa Nikolova emphasized that for the last year there is a catching-up for the delay from a year and a half, which has also reflected on the structure and management of the new Operational Programme.  2016 is a crucial year to starting real activities on the Programme. We have start the implementation phase and put into action the envisaged programmes to carry out the regional development priorities at which we are aimed, she said.