Bulgarian Municipalities Modernize Drainage Systems with EU Funds

2010-08-19

The Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Water made Thursday a call to 36 municipalities to apply for EU financing to modernize their drainage and sewage systems. The Ministry, which is the managing authority of the EU operational program Environment, informs about 41 cities and towns with a population of over 10 000 can apply for a total of BGN 600 M. They include almost all municipalities along the Black Sea coast and beach resorts such as Albena, Golden Sands, and Kamchia. The capital Sofia, Shumen, Montana, Targovishte, and Pazardzhik, are among the larger cities eligible for financing. The release of the funds was delayed by almost one year and the above municipalities still dont have their bids ready. For this reason, there are 3 separate deadlines for submission November 1 and January 31, 2010 and June 30, 2011. Preparation and construction works have a deadline of December 31, 2014. This is the second call to municipalities to apply to modernize the drains and sewers. The first was made at the end of June. The total amount of available EU financing from both reached BGN 1.2 M.