The budget for energy efficiency projects will stand at 10 per cent of the value of structural funds and could reach EUR 2 bln in 2014-2020 depending on how the negotiations with the European Commission go, Marcel Bolos, secretary of state within the Regional Development and Tourism Ministry (MDRT), the ministry that manages the Regional Operational Programme, stated, Mediafax reports.The energy efficiency axis for the current period of funding stands at EUR 400 M and consists of the thermal rehabilitation of apartment buildings (EUR 300 M) and hospitals. The MDRT representative stated that five special committees of negotiation with the European Commission have been thought-out. The committees will focus on urban development, business environment, energy efficiency, road and public transportation infrastructure and underdeveloped communities. Likewise, Marcel Botos added that he wants to launch, for the first time, a double funding scheme that would offer to local authorities the funds for public utilities infrastructure, while the companies that will invest in those areas would obtain state aid of up to EUR 350,000 in equipment value. He pointed out that the project has two parts, one that seeks to offer support for local authorities in building public utilities infrastructure (roads, water supply, sewerage, electricity), and another that targets the investors in business structures that benefit from the aforementioned public utilities grids. Bolos added that if this programme has positive results it could be the subject of “serious negotiations” with the European Commission on hiking the value of regional aid. We remind our readers that the MDRT announced on Friday that the Regional Operational Programme will be pre-suspended in what concerns five of the six axes, that payments of approximately EUR 200 M will be frozen for two months at most and that the decision will not affect the beneficiaries “for the time being.”
