March 11 (SeeNews) - The Bulgarian government said it will spend 30 million levs ($16.8 million /15.3 million euro) on developing renewable power installations for state hospitals in order to reduce their dependency on purchasing electricity, natural gas or diesel fuel for heating.
Approval procedures are under way and the pilot project is expected to kick off by the end of May, the government said in a statement on Thursday.
The funds will be provided by the ministry of regional development, which has a total of 129 million levs to spend under a programme supported by the EU's COVID-19 regional policy mechanism Recovery Assistance for Cohesion and the Territories of Europe (REACT-EU).
The installation of renewable power sources at hospitals will be a major improvement for those relying on outdated building stock marked by low energy efficiency and very high energy consumption.
Two more projects to improve the health system infrastructure are awaiting approval by end-April, for total funding of 100 million levs. Those will provide equipment to outpatient and blood transfusion centres as well as the construction of isolation treatment areas, including the supply of respiratory equipment and intensive care beds.
(1 euro = 1.95583 levs)