site.btaGrant Aid Agreements on Three High-risk Projects under OP Regional Development Will Be Cancelled

Grant Aid Agreements on Three High-risk Projects under OP Regional Development Will Be Cancelled

Sofia, October 6 (BTA) - Regional Development Minister Liliyana Pavlova said that the grant aid agreements on three high-risk projects under Operational Programme Regional Development (OPRD) would be terminated. The Tourism Ministry is the beneficiary and the projects are in tourism marketing.

Pavlova participated in a meeting of the Monitoring Committees of OPRD and the new OP Regions in Growth.

Three high-risk projects for the urban development of three towns under OP Technical Assistance can still be rescued, said Pavlova.

The six projects are considered high risk because contracts have not been signed with a contractor yet.

There are also 43 higher risk projects where about 50 or 60 per cent of the activities have been implemented. Those projects must be completed and put into operation by December, which is still possible, according to Pavlova. They include projects for the urban environment, health care and deinstitutionalization, as well as Sofia's Northern Speed Tangent and one lot under construction by the Road Agency.

Many of those projects can be completed by the year's end, while three or four may be finished next year, meaning that the final payments will come from the beneficiaries' budget. Apart from the final payment for the Northern Speed Tangent, beneficiaries may have to pay an estimated 40 million euro at the most.

Bulgaria's GDP has grown by more than 1 per cent due to the investments under OPRD, Deputy Regional Development Minister Denitsa Nikolova said at the meeting of the Monitoring Committees. She was quoting data of assessments of the net impact of OPRD using a macroeconomic model. Other results of the operational programme include an increase in public investments by over 15 per cent and in private investments by 2.5 per cent thanks to JESSICA (the Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas). This points to a need to expand the instrument's scope of activities and ways of financing, said Nikolova.