Operational Programme "Environment" provides additional funds for the sectors "Air" and "Waste"

On 27 May, at the fourteenth meeting of the Monitoring Committee of Operational Programme "Environment" (OPE), amendments extending the scope of priority axes "Waste" and "Improvement of air quality" were adopted.

The Monitoring Committee approved the assessment criteria for a new procedure for measures addressing transport as a cause of air pollution with a resource of BGN 390 million. The procedure will support the purchase and delivery of modern environmentally friendly vehicles, which will lead to a reduction of harmful air emissions, noise and vibration, as well as significant energy savings. Eligible activities are the purchase of electric buses, trolleybuses and trams, as well as charging stations. Beneficiaries of the procedure are 11 municipalities with poor air quality, in partnership with the respective municipal enterprise/company, which provides public transport services on the territory of the municipality - Burgas, Varna, Vratsa, Pernik, Pleven, Russe, Sliven, Stara Zagora, Sofia, Haskovo, and Shumen.

"Achieving concrete results for clean air is our top priority that we are extremely committed to," Neno Dimov, Minister of Environment and Water, stated at the Committee meeting. He recalled that air quality funds originally envisaged within the programme amounted to BGN 115 million. "At the previous meeting of the Operational Programme Monitoring Committee, we announced that we will search for options to increase this budget, which will be directed not only towards domestic heating but also to the other major contributor to air pollution with fine particles - transport. With the upcoming investments, the total resource for clean air that we are going to mobilize during this programming period is nearly 6 times bigger than originally planned. Thus, we respond to the concerns of citizens and local authorities and take another step towards improving the quality of life," said Minister Dimov.

A new measure for the recultivation of closed waste landfills is included in the approved amendment of the Operational Programme "Environment" 2014-2020. The resource amounts to BGN 120 million and will be targeting municipalities with landfills, which have been the subject of the infringement procedure against Bulgaria at the Court of the EU. Minister Dimov reminded that after the infringement procedure Bulgaria has closed 113 depots by the end of 2018, implementing the requirement of the European Court. These landfills are to be recultivated with OPE funds. The programme funds are provided in addition to the financial resources from the state budget.