site.btaOP Regional Development Ends with 1,104 Successfully Finished Projects

OP Regional Development Ends with 1,104 Successfully Finished Projects

Veliko Turnovo, North Central Bulgaria, May 12 (BTA) - Operational Programme (OP) Regional Development 2007-2013 was the programme which transformed the appearance of Bulgarian cities, Regional Development and Public Works Minister Liliyana Pavlova said at a meeting of the OP's Monitoring Authority here Thursday. The OP ended with 1,104 successfully completed projects, and the resources paid amounted to 103 per cent, she specified.
 
In the 2007-2013 programming period, Bulgaria's GDP grew by nearly 1 per cent.
  
The investments in improving the urban environment exceeded 400 million leva, with nearly half a billion leva having been allocated to the improvement of the urban transport's systems, with which over 250 buses and trolleybuses were bought, Pavlova said.

According to her, nearly 1,000 educational institutions were repaired and renovated under the OP. All regional cities now have new fire trucks. Over 100 million leva were invested in the deinstitualization of children at risk, and over 1,100 km of roads were rehabilitated. More than 145 sites and attractions in the sphere of tourism and culture were renovated or built, she noted.

Under the new OP Regions in Growth 2014-2020, the main goal will be the creation of jobs and the increase of GDP, Pavlova said. She underscored that this OP will be implemented in partnership with municipalities as intermediate units. The resources for municipalities are approximately a billion and a half leva, she added.

Seventy-five per cent of the OP has been open to application since the start of 2016.

The challenges in the 2014-2020 programming period are related to the selection of projects and the procedures in the conditions of a new Public Procurement Act, Pavlova forecast.