Over BGN 715 million will be invested directly in activities and measures to improve air quality under the Program “Environment” 2021-2027. This was clarified during a working meeting yesterday, which was attended by the Deputy Minister of the Environment and Water Reneta Koleva, the director general of the Directorate General “Operational Program ‘Environment’” Galina Simeonova, mayors, deputy mayors, and representatives of 21 municipalities.

Deputy Minister Koleva reminded that a few days ago the European Commission officially approved the new program, and the Ministry has already started work on preparing the application procedures. “The aim is to avoid delays in the 2021-2027 program period, so let’s start at the fastest pace”, insisted Deputy Minister Reneta Koleva. According to her, we must prove to the European Commission that Bulgaria’s efforts to improve air quality are yielding results, and this requires a partnership with the municipalities.

“I hope we have all learned our lessons - we await a decision from the Court of Justice of the EU in relation to violations of the rules pertinent to PM10, which will inevitably lead to financial sanctions. The MOEW makes constant efforts to minimize the damage to the budget as much as possible. But unfortunately, the results from the monitoring are a fact - we continue to have municipalities with PM10 values that exceed the norms”, added Deputy Minister Koleva.

The funds under Priority “Air” of Program “Environment” 2021-2027 will be directed to 21 municipalities with bad air quality, which are within the scope of a decision by the Court of the EU from 2017 and have registered exceedances of the average daily norms and/ or the average annual concentration of PM10 in the period 2017-2021.

The “For cleaner air” procedure will finance the replacement of wood or coal heating devices with ecological alternatives. The main source of air pollution with PM10 is domestic heating. In order to receive free new heating devices, citizens living in any of these 21 municipalities will have to agree to make their old solid fuel devices available for recycling. The procedure with a budget of 610 million BGN will be open for application by municipalities in the first quarter of 2023.

The “Green Infrastructure in Urban Environment” procedure will support the greening of urban areas, including the possibility of investment in innovative approaches. The budget of 105 million BGN will be available to invest in expanding existing green areas, building green walls, upgrading “mud patches”, etc. Priority will be given to plant species with a high degree of absorption and/or retention of PM10.

The 21 municipalities with bad air quality in the period 2017-2021 are: Asenovgrad, Blagoevgrad, Pernik, Sofia, Burgas, Veliko Tarnovo, Vidin, Vratsa, Gorna Oryahovitsa, Dimitrovgrad, Kardzhali, Lovech, Montana, Nesebar, Pazardzhik , Pleven, Plovdiv, Ruse, Smolyan, Haskovo, and Shumen.