Interest in the remediation program will exceed nearly six times the available resource of nearly BGN 1.2 billion

Raya Lecheva

We expected the interest in the update program to exceed two-three times the available resource, but it seems that it will be even greater and reach 5-6 times.

This was announced at a round table "National fund for decarbonization: structuring, operational management, market development" Dobromir Vasilev, director of the Directorate "Housing Policy" at the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works.

Just a month ago, the procedure for improving energy efficiency in multi-family residential buildings with a resource of nearly BGN 1.2 billion under the Recovery and Sustainability Plan was launched, with the plans to renew about 1,000 buildings. Projects will be accepted until the end of May. In Bulgaria, over 60,000 multi-family dwellings and over 1 million single-family dwellings need renovation.

"There is no way to respond to this interest and achieve the goals of the long-term renovation strategy without reducing the grant component," added Dobromir Vassilev. According to the national strategy, we need to renovate 19 million square meters of open space or we need BGN 10 billion, and this cannot happen without mobilizing investments from the people or from financial institutions, the expert emphasized. Currently, there are a number of financial instruments on the market that offer alternatives and even credits that will be paid from the saved energy costs in Unfortunately, according to experts in the industry, there is a lack of a unified communication strategy and campaign to inform people how they can get involved with their own funds or even find financing that does not burden their budget, and the contributions are paid by saving the contributions for for heating. We will not propose a specific financial mechanism because we are waiting for the political decision on the formation of the new National Fund h and decarbonization.

According to consultants from the World Bank and the European Investment Bank, it can only be a coordinating unit between all existing market institutions. But a targeted information campaign is absolutely necessary to convince people that the complete renovation of the housing stock and their homes cannot happen without their active participation and the knowledge that they will have to co-finance this process, comments Dragomir Tsanev, executive director of the Center for Energy Efficiency "EnEfect". Marko Markov from the EIB and a number of other experts in the industry have repeatedly explained that there is no other country, even among less developed countries, that can fully finance the rehabilitation. If we initially plan for private owners to contribute 20% initially, then in many countries it reaches 50%, experts explain. The important thing is to give energy-poor households the opportunity to also participate, because at the moment they are literally excluded from the program, stated Teodora Peneva from BAS.

For now, however, the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works does not plan to comprehensively present all financing options, but will leave this process to the competition between financial institutions on the market, said Dobromir Vasilev.

Other important things to know about the program is that the funds for energy audits and energy passports will not be returned, but this can only encourage people to still look for other alternatives to finance the renovation of their homes. Unapproved projects under the first stage of the program will not have priority under the second, because they will still have to consider whether they want to participate with co-financing under the second stage of the program. The pilot scheme will have a resource of BGN 300 million. According to Tsveta Nanova, vice-chairman of the Bulgarian Facility Management Association, even under the conditions of co-financing, the interest will be many times greater and it is necessary for people to know what alternatives they have. Vasilev announced that the application for the second stage will begin on June 1. However, the idea is to have information about the submitted and approved proposals under the first stage. Experts expect this to be delayed even until autumn. This will also lead to an extension of the second-stage reception, Vasilev pointed out. He assured that for the second stage of the procedure, the costs of external assistance and consulting services related to the preparation of the documents and application to the program will be eligible.