MIG has opened the program for the development of industrial zones for applications

Late last night, the Ministry of Innovation and Growth (MIG) opened for applications the "Program for Public Support for the Development of Industrial Areas, Parks and Similar Territories and for Attracting Investments" ("AttractInvestBG")".

"With the opening of this measure, for 10 months of work of the official office, the MIG activated more than 80% of the funds for five of the total six procedures under PVU for which we are responsible. In August of last year, we found 4 submitted projects under PVU, 10 months later we have nearly 11 thousand submitted projects and the funds under the Recovery Plan will reach small and medium-sized enterprises in every region of the country", commented the Minister of Innovation and Growth Alexander Pulev on the occasion of the announcement of the acceptance of documents under the procedure. He summarized that up to now, according to the Ministry of Innovation, a resource of over BGN 820 million has been given the green light under the Ministry of Innovation.

"This is the fifth procedure under the National Plan for Recovery and Sustainability, which MIG has opened within a few months," commented Pulev and added that a total of BGN 212.5 million will be invested for the development of industrial zones and parks in Bulgaria. The minimum the amount of the grant per project is BGN 1 million. Operators of all industrial zones and parks in the country will be able to apply for it - state, municipal, joint and private, newly created, in the initial or advanced stage of construction and development, four each direction - leading technical infrastructure, technical infrastructure internal to the zone, buildings for research activity and construction of eco-infrastructure - charging stations for electric cars - on the territory of industrial parks and zones.

Applicants can participate individually for the internal infrastructure in the park or zone or in partnership with municipalities, the Road Infrastructure Agency, the National Railway Infrastructure Company, water supply operators, ESO EAD, Bulgartransgaz EAD, operators of electricity and gas distribution networks - for the infrastructure leading to the park or zone. According to the program, priority will be given to candidates from Northern Bulgaria in order to overcome regional imbalances.

The projects activated by MIG under PVU for a total of BGN 820 million in this period are:

1. "Technological modernization of enterprises" - BGN 260 million - all contracts have been concluded with the ranked over 950 companies;

2. "Solutions in the field of ICT and cyber security in enterprises" - BGN 30 million - the first nearly 200 contracts out of all 1599 classified have already been concluded.

3. "Installation of systems for electric energy from renewable energy for own consumption in combination with facilities for local energy storage" - BGN 200 million - the ranked over 560 projects are currently in the process of evaluation.

4. "Support for innovative enterprises awarded with the "Seal of Excellence" by the EC - BGN 118 million - the projects submitted within the first application session are currently being evaluated.

5. "Program for public support for the development of industrial zones and parks" - BGN 212 million - activation of the application from today, June 2, for a period of 5 months.

After optimizing an internal resource for the "Technological Modernization" measure, MIG also secured over-contracting for over BGN 95 million, which will enable additional over 300 small and medium-sized enterprises from the lists of approved projects to receive funding under the Recovery Plan. There are such approved projects from every region of the country.

The recruitment of projects under the sixth and last measure under the PVA (a procedure for coordination with the EC is currently underway), for which MIG is the leading department - "Circular Economy", has to be announced for weeks. It is aimed at the utilization of waste and the implementation of "green" technologies in the production and activities of companies, with the allocated budget of BGN 180 million.