All the projects under the Recovery and Sustainability Plan (RPP) that go through the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works (MRRD) are facing complete failure.
This is what Stanislav Mladenov, Deputy Chairman of the Standing Committee on International Cooperation and Tourism, European Programs and Projects from the Local Coalition Group "BSP for Bulgaria" warned. in SOS. He added that no more than 20% of the contracts for projects approved by Sofia have been concluded, and only 15 months remain until the deadline for their implementation.
"The problem is with the administrative capacity in the directorates of the ministry,
commented Stanislav Mladenov. - Only two people process the documents for private beneficiaries and no more than 15 people - for municipalities from the whole country. This slows down the process tremendously. There are 15 months left until the end of the deadline for the implementation of the projects financed under the Recovery and Sustainability Plan. And in the contracts that have yet to be signed with the approved beneficiaries, the deadline for implementation is 18 months. It is already physically impossible to meet the deadlines set by the EU. Which means that not only will Bulgaria not take and use funds, but it will have to return money under the Recovery and Sustainability Plan".
According to Stanislav Mladenov,
the main blame for Bulgaria's looming complete failure related to the PVA lies with the last two Cabinets, as well as the Assembly before them.
"The delay in the implementation of the Plan is not only in the regional ministry, but in all of them, commented Stanislav Mladenov. "The truth is that the ministries have huge problems with the administrative capacity that they cannot handle".
Stanislav Mladenov noted that the Municipality of Stolichna is also a beneficiary of projects through the MRRD and will most likely not receive the funds it is hoping for. "The money for street lighting in the city is through the Ministry of Energy, but there is also a huge delay in signing the contracts. There are even procedures that have yet to be released for execution. They will most likely not even start, as there is no way they will be implemented and completed in 15 months.
The delay in project evaluations under the adapted work environment procedure through the Ministry of Labor and Social Policy has been over 7 months.
Many of the municipal companies apply for it. So far, this program has worked the best of all. Now the failure there is also titanic. And the municipal companies are waiting for results so that these funds can be invested in their budgets for the next year".
According to the municipal councilor from the group of Local Coalition "BSP for Bulgaria", there is currently only one chance for our country to benefit from funds under the PVU before the deadline expires at the end of 2025.
"A review should be done by municipality and where there are already ready large infrastructure projects, they should be included for financing, commented Mladenov. - However, this implies an urgent renegotiation and reformatting of the programs. If this opportunity is also missed by the cabinet ministers, Bulgaria will register a spectacular failure with the funds from the Recovery and Sustainability Plan".