site.bta Parliament Supports Increase of Rehabilitation Programme Funding by Lv 1,000 Mln

Parliament Supports Increase of Rehabilitation Programme Funding by Lv 1,000 Mln

Sofia, January 18 (BTA) - Parliament Wednesday supported the extension of the National Programme for Energy Efficiency of Multifamily Residential Buildings and the actions of the Council of Ministers to increase the financial resources to 2,000 million leva. The motion was supported by 109 MPs, 11 were against and 32 abstained.

Outgoing Regional Development Minister Lilyana Pavlova presented arguments in support of the motion to increase the resources from 1,000 to 2,000 million leva. The amount of the contracts concluded by the Development Bank have already reached nearly 1,000 million leva, a report of the minister approved by the Government shows.

Pavlova pointed out that there are over 2,000 buildings for which contracts with the Development Bank have been concluded, 203 buildings have been completed and about 550 are in the process of construction and mounting works.

Iskren Vesselinov (Patriotic Front) said the lack of co-funding is one of the main flaws of the programme.

Georgi Turnovaliiski (Bulgarian Socialist Party, BSP) said serious funds support this programme and are spent in violation of the Public Finances Act. How is a fundamental policy of the government funded at an additional cost with a decree of the Council of Ministers, he asked. In his words, millions cannot be spent in the dark and without the sanction of the Parliament.

Dora Yankova (BSP-Left Bulgaria) said they will insist that the programme cover the entire Bulgarian people.

Ramadan Atalai (Movement for Rights and Freedoms) commented that GERB should refute some of the claims relevant to some doubts about the programme. The first doubt is that they tried to use this programme for election aims, followed by doubts relevant to real expenses, he pointed out.

Bulgarian Development Bank CEO Angel Gekov explained that the bank is performing a purely agency function in respect to the programme and that is related to payment of surveying, construction and mounting works. The bank does not delay payments. The problems arising at the bank involve the documents which have not been arranged according to the requirements, he pointed out.