Nearly BGN 3 billion from the Recovery and Sustainability Plan will be invested in construction

Nearly BGN 3 billion under the Reconstruction and Sustainability Plan (including VAT and planned national co-financing) will be directed to the construction sector for the implementation of various investment projects of the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works. This was announced by Deputy Prime Minister Grozdan Karadjov at the forum "Investment projects. The Recovery and Sustainability Plan. "The discussion was organised by Standard Media in partnership with the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, the Chamber of Builders in Bulgaria, the Chamber of Architects in Bulgaria and the Stroitel newspaper.

Minister Karadjov noted that most of the funds from the plan - nearly BGN 1.5 billion, will be directed to energy renovation of residential buildings in the country to reduce energy consumption and improve their condition. "By 2026, the project envisages the renovation of multi-family residential buildings with a total built-up area of over 3.6 million square meters," he said. The aim is to achieve at least 30% energy savings in buildings and a minimum of class "B" energy consumption. So far, with funds from the budget, through the National Program for Energy Efficiency of Multifamily Residential Buildings, 1944 buildings with over 130 thousand dwellings with nearly 11 million square meters of total built-up area and over 276 thousand inhabitants have been renovated.

"Through the financing provided in the Plan, the policy for energy renovation of the housing and building stock in the country will be continued, but through the transformation of the existing financing model," the Deputy Prime Minister added. For this purpose, there will be two stages of application and the owners' associations will be divided into two groups. For the first, it will run until March 2023, with a 100% grant for renovation activities. The deadline for applications for the second group will be from April 2023 to December 2023, as the grant for renovation activities here will be 80%, and the remaining 20% will be self-participation of associations. "For it, the owners, if they wish, can receive funding through the ESCO component or other financial mechanism," the regional minister explained.

In addition to the direct environmental benefits, the implementation will have a positive impact on the country's economic growth, innovation, competitiveness, job creation, reduction of energy poverty and more.

Another nearly BGN 730 million of the plan is planned for energy renovation of public and business buildings, it became clear at the forum. Of these, about BGN 444 million are for public buildings of state and municipal property throughout the country, including administrative and public services, culture and art, sports and facilities owned by the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Approximately BGN 282 million will be financed for sustainable energy efficient renovation of buildings in the field of production, trade and services of micro or small, medium and large enterprises in the country.

"The work on the preparation of the requirements for applying for energy renovation of the residential and non-residential building stock has already started," said Minister Karadjov.

With BGN 100 million in 40 urban municipalities in the country, it is planned to implement a pilot scheme in support of sustainable urban mobility. To this end, measures will be implemented to develop environmentally friendly, safe, functional and energy efficient transport systems. Zero-emission trolleybuses and buses for urban and interurban public transport are planned to be delivered. Charging stations will be built for them and intelligent transport systems will be implemented to improve the efficiency of public transport.

The regional minister also informed that BGN 471.6 million of the plan for the construction of 13 wastewater treatment plants are envisaged.

Funds are set aside for the introduction of modern technologies in the investment process. A system for "Construction information modeling in investment design" will be created with over BGN 9 million. Over BGN 3 million will be invested in the construction of the "Unified Information System for Spatial Planning". "This will make it possible to facilitate administrative procedures and shorten the deadlines for the implementation of investment projects. All the information from the point of view of spatial planning will be gathered in one place and will be easily accessible for the business via the Internet", explained Minister Karadjov.

The Deputy Prime Minister pointed out that in parallel with the projects to be financed by the Recovery and Sustainability Plan, projects under the Operational Program "Growing Regions" and territorial cooperation programs for the period 2014-2020 are being completed. for 14 districts in the country.

"There is a lot of work to be done on all programs and projects. Good mobilization of construction companies and the administration of the business is needed. This is the only way for their successful implementation", Minister Grozdan Karadjov was categorical.