756 multi-family residential buildings in 102 municipalities have been approved for rehabilitation with funds under procedure BG-RRP-4.023 “Support for sustainable energy renovation of the residential building stock – Stage I” within the framework of the National Recovery and Sustainability Plan, which is financed by the European Union . BGN 1,128,694,945.76 will be invested in measures to increase the energy efficiency of these units.
According to it, a total of 3068 project proposals were received from 152 municipalities with a total value of BGN 3,972,426,084.04, which exceeded the available budget nearly 4 times. The start of the procedure was given on 20.12.2022, as an opportunity to apply, all owners of multi-family residential buildings, which are managed according to the Law on the Management of Condominiums and were designed before April 26, 1999, were given.
2,178 buildings, for which the prescribed remediation measures amount to BGN 2.673 billion, are included in the reserve list of project proposals. The reserve list also includes the proposals that have a higher score than 115 points, but are in municipalities that have reached their set limits of non-grant financial assistance and cannot be financed. In this way, it is guaranteed that the funds from the Plan will reach more Bulgarian municipalities and avoid a significant territorial concentration of investments in certain municipalities and regions.
119 project proposals, which would require an investment of BGN 101 million, were rejected as not meeting the requirements. 15 project proposals were withdrawn.
In January 2024, the signing of the contracts with the municipalities will begin for providing the funds, which are entirely grants, to the buildings approved for financing. In turn, the local authorities will enter into contracts with the approved blocks. In order not to waste time, municipal administrations can start announcing public contracts for the selection of contractors before their conclusion. If they are carried out in a timely manner, the implementation of the measures prescribed for the renovation of the buildings will be able to start already in the construction season of 2024. The construction and assembly works must also be carried out in compliance with the scheduled schedules, because the deadline for the implementation of activities with financing on the line of the Recovery and Resilience Plan is mid-2026.
The owners of the blocks that are included in the reserve list from the first stage of the procedure “Support for sustainable energy renovation of the residential building stock” can apply for financing from Stage II. A budget of BGN 282,470,400 has been provided for it. Approved buildings for participation in this stage of the building procedure will receive up to 80% of grant-in-aid. Each owner’s association will have to provide self-participation through its own financial resource in the amount of 20% of the value of the eligible costs of the project. Application documents are submitted again through the municipal or regional administrations. Eligible for participation here are all multi-family residential buildings in the country, managed according to the ZEUS and designed before April 26, 1999. The deadline for applications is January 16, 2024, as in case of lack of sufficient interest and submitted projects on -a small amount from the budget, it is planned that the deadline will be extended until the end of February 2024.
The aim of the measures that will be implemented in the two stages of the procedure is to improve the energy characteristics of multi-family residential buildings and to reach energy consumption class “B”. The goals are also to reduce the country’s energy consumption, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save 30% of primary energy for each object in the housing stock, reduce energy poverty by reducing energy costs, improve living conditions and quality through technological renewal and modernization of the building stock, etc.
The complete list of multi-family residential buildings approved for renovation under the PVU – see HEREthe spare – HEREthe list with the rejected ones – HEREthe complete list by municipalities – HERE.
Notifications in ISUN to all applicants will be sent after the Christmas and New Year holidays to allow deadlines to run within working days.
