The Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works provides over 100 million BGN for green buses in 40 Bulgarian municipalities

Zero-emission vehicles are taking over urban and intercity lines, building and charging stations

The Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works will invest over BGN 100 million in zero-emission eco-buses in 40 small and medium-sized municipalities. The funds are provided by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan under the measure “Green Mobility - a pilot scheme to support sustainable urban mobility” under Component 8 “Transport Connectivity”. The introduction of sustainable urban mobility aims to promote the use of sustainable urban mobility plans integrated into the territorial development strategies of NUTS level 2 planning regions and municipal development plans. The procedure is a pilot scheme to support the reform of sustainable urban mobility, which introduces a requirement for urban transport development measures (including inter-municipal transport) in municipalities to be in line with sustainable urban mobility plans. It foresees the delivery of 68 new zero emission vehicles (buses/trolleybuses), the construction of 27 new charging stations for public transport and the development and deployment of 10 Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) and integrated digital solutions to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of public transport. The programme will also implement infrastructure measures for safe urban mobility, targeting vulnerable road users - pedestrians and cyclists.

The activities target the territory of 40 urban municipalities in the 6 NUTS 2 planning regions with more than 15 000 inhabitants. These are the municipalities of Aytos, Asenovgrad, Botevgrad, Velingrad, Vratsa, Gabrovo, Gorna Oryahovitsa, Gotse Delchev, Dimitrovgrad, the town of Dobrich, Dupnitsa, Kazanlak, Karlovo, Karnobat, Kardzhali, Kyustendil, Lovech, Lom, Montana, Nova Zagora, Pazardzhik, Panagyurishte, Pernik, Petrich, Peshtera, Razgrad, Samokov, Sandanski, Svilengrad, Svishtov, Sevlievo, Silistra, Sliven, Smolyan, Troyan, Targovishte, Harmanli, Haskovo, Shumen and Yambol.

For each of the six planning regions in which the identified municipalities are located, funds have been secured, with a minimum allocation of just over BGN 16 million The minimum grant amount for each individual investment proposal should be BGN 2 000 000 including VAT and the maximum cannot exceed BGN 8 000 000 including VAT. Up to 90% of the maximum amount of investment implementation proposals may be granted under the procedure and the applicant should provide its own contribution of 10% with resources raised from various sources. For the purpose of the procedure, it is mandatory to apply in partnership between at least two municipalities and at least one public transport operator, including inter-municipal, operating on the territory of one of the applicant municipalities. Municipalities falling within the definition of rural area are eligible as associate partners for projects subject to justification in terms of rural-urban linkages and functional areas.

The procedure has been published for public consultation on the website of the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works, and suggestions and comments can be submitted until 19 January 2023 to the e-mail of the Directorate General of Strategic Planning and Regional Development Programmes at the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works: oprd@mrrb.government.bg, as well as by official channels.