Over 460 million BGN under the Regional Development Programme 2021-2027 will be invested in urban and regional infrastructure projects through financial instruments

Deputy Minister Boneva signed a financial agreement for the programming period 2021-2027 with the Fund Manager of the Financial Instruments in Bulgaria

“This is what the Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Angelina Boneva said at the signing of the financial agreement between the Managing Aurhority in the MRDPW and the Fund Manager of Financial Instruments in Bulgaria EAD for investments in urban and regional infrastructure under the Programme for Regional Development (RDP) 2021-2027, in the part co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

The Deputy Minister and Head of the Managing Aurhority of the programme explained that the agreement, which the MRDPW and the Fund of Funds have been working hard on for about 18 months, also gives the start to the financial instruments under RDP 2021-2027. She thanked the Fund team and the financial intermediaries for the activities so far, especially with regard to the municipal and public-private initiatives. “We have excellent practices, started through the JESSICA instrument in the first programming period 2007-2013 for Bulgaria, with financial intermediaries working on the ground and seeing the obstacles to non-grant financing in Bulgaria and, despite the difficulties, developing and validating it as a working model that leads to quality and sustainable projects,” she said. She added: “The benefits of the instruments are clear, as not only are revenues generated, but it also ensures that additional private capital is attracted to finance infrastructure.”

The Executive Director of Fund Manager of Financial Instruments in Bulgaria EAD Pavel Lisev informed that the Operational Programme “Regions in Growth” (OPRG) 2014-2020 supported more than 125 projects with final beneficiaries mainly municipalities and partnerships with municipalities. He added that in the current programming period more than 460 million BGN are earmarked for this purpose, divided into two priority axes. The Executive Director of the Fund underlined the successful cooperation with the Managing Aurhority in the MRDPW and expressed his gratitude to the intermediaries that implement the current instrument. He expressed his expectation that the available resources under the OPRG will be successfully and fully utilized and that the objectives of regional infrastructure development in Bulgaria will be achieved.