Nearly BGN 1 billion from the MRDPW under the Development of Regions Programme 2021-2027 will be directed to coal regions by the end of the year

The first BGN 200 million for renovation of buildings are now available for application, projects are submitted until 19 September

Nearly BGN 1 billion from the Development of Regions Programme 2021-2027 will be directed by the end of the year to support the just transition in the coal regions of Bulgaria - the districts of Pernik, Kyustendil, Stara Zagora and 10 other municipalities related to the Maritsa basin: Nova Zagora, Yambol, Simeonovgrad, Harmanli, Topolovgrad, Dimitrovgrad, Haskovo, Elhovo, Sliven and Tundzha. This was announced by the Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Yura Vitanova. Today she participated in a National conference under the title “The Need for a National Plan for a Just Transition”, organized by the Confederation of Independent Trade Unions in Bulgaria in Sofia.

The Deputy Regional Minister informed that the application procedure “Support for sustainable energy renovation of multi-family residential buildings, including tackling energy poverty” under Priority 4 “Just Transition” of the programme was launched yesterday. Under the measure, nearly BGN 200 million will be invested in energy efficiency of multi-family residential buildings in the settlements. The application process will last until 19 September this year and will follow the model approved so far - multi-family dwellings will have to form an association which will decide to participate in the programme, after which a technical building passport and an energy audit will be prepared. The documents will be submitted to the respective municipalities, which as partners will organise the next stages of the process - public procurement and supervision of the works. The main requirement is that, after renovation, the renovated buildings must meet an energy efficiency class of at least “B”, which means achieving a minimum of 30% primary energy savings. Projects will be competitively selected and will be assessed against a number of criteria. The grant will fund the implementation of energy efficiency measures prescribed in the energy audit, as well as measures to ensure fire safety and the construction/repair/replacement of lightning protection and earthing installation, where prescribed in the building's technical passport. It will also cover the carrying out of an energy efficiency audit and the preparation of an energy performance certificate for the buildings in operation, as well as the technical passport of the building.  The minimum grant amount is BGN 50 000 per project proposal and the maximum is BGN 9 500 000.

Indicatively, the measure “Support for workers in the affected sectors through training and retraining” is also expected to be announced by 30 September. With a total budget of BGN 110 million, it will support employees and workers in the sectors most affected by the transition to climate neutrality through training and retraining to move to alternative jobs and entrepreneurship, Deputy Minister Vitanova further announced.

Another procedure foreseen in the framework of 2024 is “Diversification and adaptation of small and medium-sized enterprises to the economic transition”, which will be funded with BGN 250 million of European grants to support and assist SMEs in the process of implementing the economic transition to clean technologies, including through diversification, technical modernization, innovation, etc.

By the end of the year, the procedure “Mapping the skills of indirectly affected people in the areas most affected by the climate transition” will be launched with funding of BGN 1 million. The funds are for measures to study the skills of people indirectly affected by the transition, which are to be implemented under a project within the Human Resources Development Programme 2021-2027 (HRDP).  Also in December, will open for applications the procedure “Support for industrial and logistics parks and zones” with grant funding of BGN 140 million to support the establishment or expansion of industrial and logistics parks and zones as well as “Support for productive investments in large enterprises in the Stara Zagora region” with a budget of BGN 250 million, The funds will be allocated for productive investments in large enterprises in the Stara Zagora region and in the municipalities of Nova Zagora, Yambol, Simeonovgrad, Harmanli, Topolovgrad, Dimitrovgrad, Haskovo, Elhovo, Sliven and Tundzha.

“The Fair Transition Fund under the Development of Regions Programme 2021-2027 enables the three regions to receive additional European funding to implement a range of activities to address the negative socio-economic consequences of the transition to climate neutrality. As a country whose Territorial Fair Transition Plans were the last to be approved, our commitment now is to catch up with the realised delays and to target the available financial resources in the most effective way to the coal regions and people most seriously affected by the transition to climate neutrality,” said Deputy Minister Vitanova.