March 23 (SeeNews) - Romania’s government said it has approved a 27.242 million lei ($6 million/5.5 million euro) state aid scheme to facilitate the closure of the uncompetitive coal mines of state-owned electricity and heat producer Complexul Energetic Hunedoara (CEH), currently undergoing insolvency.
Of the total amount, 20.069 million lei will be allocated to the Lonea mine, while 7.173 million lei will go towards the Lupeni mine in the Jiu valley region of Hunedoara county, the government said in a press release on Wednesday.
Compensation payments for five employees from the Lonea mine whose employment contracts will be terminated amount to 186,000 lei, while 60,000 lei will cover the provision of professional retraining services for twelve employees at the Lupeni mine.
A total of 29.996 million lei will ensure the recultivation of land areas adjacent to the mines, of which 19.883 will be allocated to approximately 463,322 sq m around the Lonea mine, while 7.113 million lei will cover about 79,609 sq m around the Lupeni mine.
In August, Iraq’s Mass Group Holding bought Romania's Mintia thermal power plant (TPP) from CEH for 91.2 million euro ($99.2 million) in a public auction, CEH’s judicial administrator said at the time. The Iraqi buyer intends to invest over 1 billion euro in transforming the Mintia plant into the EU’s largest gas-fired electricity production facility in the EU, the Romanian government said in a press release in March.
In 2022, Romania’s 1.97% decline in greenhouse gas emissions was the most significant out of the five EU members from Southeast Europe (SEE), a press release from the EU statistical office showed in February.
(1 euro=4.9214 lei)