April 26 (SeeNews) - Bulgaria's government will grant over 471.6 million levs ($257.7 million/241 million euro) for the construction or repair of 13 wastewater treatment facilities in small and medium-sized municipalities, the regional development ministry said.
The amount comprises funding from Bulgaria's EU-backed Recovery and Resilience Plan for economic recovery from the coronavirus pandemic as well as state co-financing, the ministry said in a statement on Monday.
The wastewater treatment facilities will serve locations such as Devnya, Galabovo and the Black Sea town of Ahtopol with a population of 5,000 to 10,000 each, which makes them too small to individually apply for support from EU structural funds.
There are 11 wastewater treatment plants in Bulgaria, which are being built or renovated with funds from the 2 billion euro-plus Operational Programme Environment for the 2014-2020 programming period.
In the current 2021-2027 programming period, regional water utilities will have access to financing to the tune of 1.5 billion levs, with individual projects to be funded yet to be determined, the ministry added. There will be an additional 250 million levs, which the ministry will disburse from a separate fund to improve municipal water utility infrastructure.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)