site.btaEuropean Funds Provide 75% of Renovation in Municipalities – Montana Mayor Zlatko Zhivkov

The funds of the European Union provide about 75% of the funds for renovation in the municipalities, told BTA Montana Mayor Zlatko Zhivkov, who is also member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria (NAMRB).

Thanks to these funds, in recent years in Montana, many streets, schools, kindergartens and nurseries, public buildings and squares, parks and gardens have been repaired, water and sewer pipes have been replaced, a sewage treatment plant has been built, as was a landfill system of disposal of solid waste etc., Zhivkov said.

In addition, EU funds have introduced many social services that started as EU-funded projects and then grew into a delegated state activity and have been in continuous operation for many years. Thus, social services in Montana have grown from two in 1999, when Zhivkov won his first mandate, to 21 now. " Municipalities cannot do without these funds. I do not understand people who do not stand up when the anthem of the European Union is played," said the Mayor.

This year, the Municipality of Montana is implementing projects with European funding for about BGN 20 million. The largest project is to replace the old coal and wood heating devices in the city's households with environmentally friendly heaters with natural gas, pellets and electricity. Under the project, thousands of air conditioners and natural gas and pellet boilers will be installed in the homes of about 16,000 people free of charge.

It is expected that after the completion of the project, the air in Montana will become much cleaner and there will be no fine dust particles above the norms. Research in recent years shows that the air in the city was polluted for about half of the days in the winter season, and the reason for this is the solid fuel heaters that a large number of households use. After their replacement, it is expected that there will be no pollution during the winter.