Bulgaria has absorbed 65.2% of the funds granted under the 7 EU Operational Programmes

By December 31, 2011, Bulgaria had absorbed 65.2% of the total budget projected under the 7 Operational Programmes, announced yesterday Monika Panayotova, Chairowman of the European Affairs and Oversight of the European Funds Committee. She presented to the Bulgarian Parliament the fifth annual report on Bulgaria's absorption of EU funds in 2011. Panayotova stressed that our country had achieved double growth in the contracting and utilisation of EU funds, while three of the OPs, including OP Transport, OP Environment and OP Competitiveness, had achieved a 94% performance. The other three OPs - OP Regional Development, OP Administrative Capacity and OP Human Resources, attained 90% implementation of the planned procedures.

At present, there is no risk of losing grants. The detected errors are actually below the allowable limit of 2%. The latter is due to the improved monitoring and tightened inspections in the field of public procurement contracts, commented Panayotova. According to her, the motto for the next programming period 2014 -2020 will be "Regions, Reforms, Growth."

This year, a total of € 0.8 bn are expected to be absorbed under OP Transport, which constitutes the largest share of total EU funds. In 2014 and 2015, a considerable part of transportation projects are expected to be implemented. In fact, the implementation of the large infrastructure projects like the construction of the Maritsa and Struma motorways, has been already launched. Besides, the construction works on the Trakia highway are advancing with a very good pace. Furthermore, the construction of the Sofia metro was given as a good example for a successfully implemented project not only for Bulgaria, but also for the EU member states. However, the main problem remains the lack of administrative capacity on the part of the National Road Infrastructure Agency (NRIA) and the National Company Railway Infrastructure (NRIC).

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