Funding for local development

Under the local development programme, which has reached its second stage, libraries, museums, theaters, public squares and sporting facilities in Romania will be funded.

Roxana Vasile, 20.07.2017, 12:52

In the past years, many local investments have been made under the National Local Development Programme. Hospitals, clinics, schools and roads have been built or refurbished with money from this fund. Despite its obvious advantages, the programme has divided Romanian officials in two: happy and unhappy mayors, beneficiaries or applicants eliminated from the programme’s list, often because of political reasons.

Romania’s President Klaus Iohannis himself has stated that Romanians must all become aware of the need for a coherent and responsible policy, which must go beyond any political bias, because all the measures taken under this development programme are taken with the goal of first and foremost benefiting Romania’s citizens.

On Wednesday, the Romanian Regional Development Minister Sevil Shhaideh presented the objectives funded under the National Local Development Programme, which has entered its second stage: libraries, museums, theatre, public squares and sporting facilities. Out of the 13,000 project applications submitted so far, 6800 have been selected on the basis of transparent criteria and without taking into consideration any political interests.

Here is Local Development Minister Sevil Shhaideh: “In keeping with the governing programme, we have stated we will fund 9,500 objectives, of which 2,500 nurseries and kindergartens, 2,000 schools that need a functioning license, a health and safety license or must undergo refurbishment works in order to be able to function at European standards. Another 5,000 projects will focus on our targets in fields such as water and waste water management or road infrastructure.”

30 billion lei have been earmarked for all these investments, the equivalent of some 7 billion Euros. The money will also come from Brussels, where the EC approved 270 million worth of investments in Romania, under the EU Cohesion Fund. Thus, 27 million Euros will be spent in Botosani, northeastern Romania, for expanding and modernizing the current drinking water supply system and the wastewater management system.

For similar projects, the counties of Hunedoara and Timis, in the southwest will get 11 million Euros each. The largest amount will be spent on capital Bucharest’s outskirts, where the EU will invest some 200 million Euro to clean and improve the wastewater collection system, which serves 1.5 million inhabitants. We should also mention the money that the European Investment Bank has lent Romania: 1 billion Euros to co-fund top infrastructure projects in the field of transportation, worth a total of 6.8 billion Euros.

The projects are to be implemented over the 2014-2020 programming period. According to the European Commissioner for Regional Policy Corina Cretu, the development of the strategic transport network will benefit trade and tourism and will fuel the economy. Equally important will be the benefits of faster connections and safer roads and transportation systems for citizens.