Over BGN 2 billion are the planned investments under the Fair Transition Fund in 2025

By the end of the year, four more procedures for nearly BGN 500 million will be launched in the districts of Pernik, Kyustendil and Stara Zagora, and blocks will be renovated for another BGN 200 million

More than BGN 2 billion will be provided by the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works (MRDPW) under the Fair Transition Fund for investments in the districts of Pernik, Kyustendil and Stara Zagora in 2025. In 2025, 8 measures are planned to be launched under Priority 4 “A Just Transition” of the Development of Regions 2021-2027 Programme, which target local businesses, municipalities, NGOs, those working in the energy sector, etc. This was announced by the Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Public Works and Head of the Managing Authority of the Programme, Yura Vitanova, who co-chaired meetings of the Fair Transition Sub-Committees of the Monitoring Committee of the DRP 2027-2021 in the three cities last week. They were attended by Asya Stankova - Director General of the Directorate General “Strategic Planning and Regional Development Programmes” at the MRDPW, the regional governors of the three districts who co-chair the sub-committees on the ground, representatives of the European Commission, mayors, experts from the ministries of regional development and public works, energy and labour and social policy, NGOs, representatives of business, trade unions, regional state structures, etc.

Nearly BGN 300 million will be directed to support energy communities to develop clean energy solutions. More than BGN 462 million are earmarked to support productive investments in large enterprises in the Stara Zagora region. BGN 476 million will finance the reclamation of mining sites. BGN 127.5 million will be available for the qualification and retraining of personnel, and BGN 300 million for investments to build hydrogen production capacity. There is also a measure for the construction of photovoltaic parks worth BGN 141.8 million and for the implementation of clean energy measures in enterprises for BGN 138.7 million. BGN 137.2 million is earmarked for research and development projects.

Asya Stankova informed that by the end of this month a procedure for support of the workers in the affected sectors through training for qualification and retraining is expected to be opened, which will have a budget of slightly over BGN 110 million. Of these, the resource for Kyustendil district is BGN 31.55 million, for Pernik district - BGN 5.54 million and BGN 73.2 million are for Stara Zagora district and the 10 adjacent municipalities. The specific beneficiaries of the procedure are the 12 enterprises operating in the energy sector, included in the three territorial plans for a fair transition of the coal mining districts.

Efforts are underway to announce three other procedures by the end of 2024. The first is a skills mapping of indirectly affected people in the areas most affected by the climate transition with an indicative grant value of BGN 1 million. The second measure aims to support the diversification and adaptation of small and medium-sized enterprises to the economic transition, with an indicative budget of BGN 250 million, and the third - support for industrial and logistics parks and zones, with a grant of BGN 140 million.

Deputy Minister Vitanova informed that thanks to the efforts of the caretaker government in June this year the first measure of the programme was opened, providing for energy efficiency of multi-family residential buildings. 329 projects have been submitted from 24 municipalities in the three districts. They have a total value of about BGN 455 million or twice as much as the budget of BGN 196 million. The projects are currently being assessed for administrative compliance and eligibility. Efforts are aimed at having the technical and financial assessment ready by the end of the year and the first contracts for the approved projects to be signed in early 2025.