“After diligent work, in which both the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works and Deputy Prime Minister Donchev participated, I can say that the funds under the Recovery and Sustainability Plan (RESP) for energy renovation of housing have been saved“. This was stated by the Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Ivan Ivanov after the meeting of the Council of Ministers today.
A part of the funds under the Plan remain in the MRDPW, for another part it has been agreed with the EC to be transferred to the Bulgarian Development Bank. Next week, the Council of Ministers will vote on them, the Minister explained. Contracts are currently being signed, with 718 under Stage I, and payments are being made to municipalities with selected contractors and construction and installation works that have begun. So far, 2.5 million leva have been paid out under the first stage.
90 contracts have been concluded under the second stage. They will be transferred to the BDB. They will be one hundred percent financed, i.e. entirely by the PVU, explained Minister Ivanov. By the end of 2029, we expect over 4 billion leva to be invested in the energy renovation of homes. This will affect a large part of Bulgarian citizens with activities that will help reduce their electricity and heating bills.
„We have made every effort to complete the PVU and I am sure that this year we will have the first buildings in operation, and in March next year those managed by the MRDPW will be ready. Minister Ivanov thanked the team at the ministry and the Council of Ministers for the successful negotiations with the EC to save all funds under the PVU. “This is an exceptional success after this failure that we encountered and the risk of losing almost all the funds. Our efforts were crowned with success“, the Minister emphasized.
The Regional Minister reported on the implementation of the first National Program for Energy Efficiency of Multi-Family Residential Buildings. So far, activities have been launched under it for 99.9% of all buildings with active financing contracts. Construction and installation work has been carried out on over 131 thousand homes, the improved housing infrastructure is over 11 million sq. m., the benefitted citizens are 279,362 people. The funds disbursed amount to over 1.9 billion leva, emphasized Minister Ivanov. This first program is heading towards a successful conclusion, he indicated.