Bulgaria gets EU nod for regional development funding of 1.9 bln euro

The Regions in Growth programme will include urban development projects with a focus on green initiatives in Bulgaria's ten largest cities, the ministry said in a statement on Friday.

Priority will be given to providing financing for investments in road upgrades, educational, health, economic, social and cultural infrastructure, energy efficiency and sustainable urban mobility, tourism and sports as well as in green urban environment and public spaces improvements.

The investments will be topped up with funds from five other operational programmes in the fields of human resources development, education, science, competitiveness and environment.

Bulgaria's caretaker government submitted the new Regions in Growth 2021-2027 programme for approval by the EU Commission in mid-November.

Earlier this month, the ministry said that it will invest an additional 64 million levs in measures for improving urban environment and industrial zones, using financing provided under the previous programming period 2014-2020.

(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)