REI Analysis: Over EUR 5 bn. available for investments in the modernisation and development of romania’s towns and communities this Autumn

More than 5 billion euros divided into no less than 13 funding schemes, with allocations between 90 million euros and the Regional Programme, with more than 4 billion euros, are available to local public authorities this autumn, funds that can be accessed by Territorial Administrative Units (TAU) for the development of road infrastructure, increasing energy efficiency through investments in green energy, mobility and urban regeneration.

“Local public authorities have more than 5 billion euros of European funding available for the development of communities throughout Romania, and some of the funding schemes already have Guidelines available, for which we have projects in the pipeline and we are preparing to submit them. We are pleased to have over 30% market share of the projects submitted under most of the schemes dedicated to public authorities, which translates into hundreds of projects that have received funding and authorities that are carrying out important projects to revitalise the communities they represent. Many thanks to the 400 TAUs who have chosen to work with us this year”, Roxana Mircea, managing partner at REI Grup stated.

Out of a total of more than 80 specialists at REI Grup, about half are responsible for writing, implementing and monitoring projects for public sector.

“Around 40 of our colleagues across the country are responsible for the preparation, writing, implementation and monitoring of all projects carried out in partnership with public authorities, and the Territorial Administrative Units team can be found in all 13 cities where we have offices. The year 2023 was a very busy one in the area of public projects, so we also focused more on this area in order to respond promptly to all funding opportunities in this sector. We advise TAUs (UAT – romanian) to check the specialists they choose to work with, be it consultants or planners, to request and validate a track record, to analyse the number of employees, to assess their procurement skills in SEAP, all in order not to miss out on these extremely important grants to all communities in Romania”, Roxana Mircea added.

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Main funding schemes October – December – Public Authorities

1. October – Manure platforms – NRRP – C3

• Budget: 228,3 mln. EUR
• Eligible applicants: TAU (Territorial Administrative Units) of municipalities, towns and communes with at least 500 UVM, ideally in areas with nitrates;
• Eligible project value: 1 mln. EUR max.;
• Co-funding: 0%; consultancy and planning are eligible;
• Eligible activities:

1. construction and platforms equipment (4 types of platforms, minimum 2,000 sqm required, including extra-urban/pasture land);
2. modernisation of existing platforms: provision of specific machinery and equipment.

2. October – November – Modernisation Fund – TAU

• Budget: 500 mln. EUR
• Eligible applicants: TAU (Territorial Administrative Units) of municipalities, towns and communes;
• Eligible project value: 20 mln. EUR – up to 1.1 mln. EUR / MWh
• Co-funding: 0%; consultancy and planning are eligible;
• Eligible activities: installation of photovoltaic panels on buildings and/or land to ensure own electricity consumption at the TAU level (public lighting, lighting in premises, electricity consumption in premises and public buildings where no economic activities are carried out by third parties – town hall, cultural home, nursery/kindergarten/educational units/state medical units/senior care centres, etc.).

(We recommend installation on the roof, and on the ground creating capacities of maximum 400 kwh)

3. October – November – Energy efficiency for public buildings – AFM

• Budget: 90 mln. EUR
• Eligible applicants: TAU (Territorial Administrative Units) of municipalities, towns and communes;
• Eligible project value: by TAU category;
• Co-funding: 0%; consultancy and planning are eligible;
• Eligible activities:
  1. energy efficiency improvement measures (ensuring indoor comfort conditions) include intervention works/activities related to the basic investment (TYPE I);
  2. related measures ( TYPE II) which contribute to the implementation of the project for which funding is requested and which do not directly lead to increased energy efficiency but include intervention works/activities related to the basic investment.

4. October – November – Just Transition – HD, GJ, DJ, PH, GL, MS counties

• Budget: 250 mln. EUR
• Financial allocation: minimum 10% of each county allocation;
• Eligible applicants: TAU (Territorial Administrative Units) of municipalities, towns and communes;
• Eligible project value: 5 mln. EUR
• Eligible activities: development of small-scale RES energy production, transport and storage capacity (photovoltaic, wind or geothermal, including heat pumps) for own consumption in public buildings where schools, hospitals, retirement homes, day-care centres, social services, vocational training centres, etc. operate, without affecting the principle of promoting care services in the community.

5. October – November – AFIR – DR 27 – Agricultural roads

• Budget: 100 mln. EUR
• Eligible applicants: Communes (Territorial Administrative Units) and their associations, set up in accordance with the national legislation in place;
• Eligible project value: 1 mln. EUR;
• Co-funding: 0%; consultancy and planning are eligible;
• Eligible activities: construction, extension and/or upgrading of the agricultural road network by facilitating access to at least 15 farmers and for agricultural areas of at least 4,400 hectares (for 60+ points).

6. October – November – AFIR – DR 28 – Roads of local interest

• Budget: 200 mln. EUR
• Eligible applicants: Communes (Territorial Administrative Units) and their associations, set up in accordance with the national legislation in place;
• Eligible project value: 1 mln. EUR;
• Co-funding: 0%; consultancy and planning are eligible;
• Eligible activities: construction, extension and/or upgrading of the network of roads of local interest.

7. October – November – AFM – Water supply and sewerage

• Eligible applicants: Communes (Territorial Administrative Units)
• Eligible project value: 12 million RON < 5.000 inhabitants, 20 million RON – 5.001-10.000 inhabitants, 30 million RON 10.000+ inhabitants;
• Co-funding: 0%, consultancy (4%) and planning are eligible;
• Eligible activities: construction, extension and/or modernisation of the water supply and/or sewerage network.

October – November: Regional Programmes, minimum EUR 500 mln. / region   

1. Local public administration digitisation projects

• Funding: 98%
• Eligible expenses: investments in the development of IT infrastructure, services and equipment (hardware & software)

2. Energy efficiency in public buildings

• Funding: 98%
• Eligible expenses: building envelope, replacement of exterior carpentry, rewiring, replacement of lighting fixtures, photovoltaic and solar panels, geothermal heat pumps and up to ~15% of related and building consolidation measures

3. Energy efficiency in residential buildings

• Funding: 95%
• Co-funding: TAU – 3%; Owners associations – 2%
• Eligible expenses: building envelope, replacement of exterior carpentry, refurbishment of installations, replacement of lighting fixtures, photovoltaic and solar panels, geothermal heat pumps and up to ~15% related measures and building consolidation measures

4. Urban mobility

• Eligible applicants: TAUs of municipalities and cities;
• Funding: 98%
• Eligible expenses:

1. Establishment, development and optimisation of public transport systems;
2. Purchase of environmentally friendly urban transport means and the necessary infrastructure (configuration/modernisation/widening/reconfiguration of streets in towns and functional urban areas) and implementation of road safety measures;
3. Establishment, upgrading, extension and equipping of infrastructure for non-motorised travel, including configuration / upgrading / widening / reconfiguration of city streets and interventions on the public lighting system related to the rehabilitated route, development of pedestrian zones, introduction of bike-sharing systems, monitoring systems;
4. Purchase of buses/microbuses for school transport;
5. Development of urban mobility corridors, including interventions in public transport depots/buses and related technical infrastructure and their retrofitting;
6. Development of alternative fuel infrastructure, including renewable energy infrastructure.

5. Investments in education infrastructure

• Eligible applicants: TAUs of municipalities and cities;
• Funding: 98%
• Eligible expenses:

1. Building / rehabilitating / modernizing /consolidating / expanding / upgrading public educational infrastructure (nurseries, kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, high schools and even universities);
2. Purchase of school buses/microbuses for hard-to-reach schools;
3. Rehabilitation/modernisation/equipment of the infrastructure of regional adult vocational training centres.

6. Urban regeneration, cultural heritage and tourism projects

• Eligible applicants: TAUs of municipalities and cities;
• Funding: 98%
• Eligible expenses:

1. Protection, conservation and sustainable enhancement of cultural heritage through restoration, consolidation, extension, accessibility and endowment of category A historic monuments, including digitisation/digitisation services for educational purposes, as well as marketing and tourism promotion activities;
2. Construction, rehabilitation, modernisation, extension and equipping of tourism and/or leisure infrastructure;
3. Urban regeneration investments (creation / modernisation / rehabilitation / extension / renovation) in spaces intended for public use (parks, small green areas, squares, squares, public squares, children’s playgrounds, agri-food markets, etc.) through the demolition of buildings/structures located on the land subject to the interventions, landscaping (bringing the land back to its original state; shaping the land; installation of construction elements such as paths, pergolas, arbours, grills, etc.). ; planting/seeding of areas, including tree planting), as well as the creation of facilities for small-scale sports and recreational activities (e.g. sports fields, etc.), installation of Wi-Fi networks, street lighting and video surveillance in public spaces, provision of street furniture (benches, litter bins, etc.). Also eligible as related activities on the site of the urban regeneration project are the replacement and/or connection of public utilities, including the creation of pedestrian walkways, pavements, bicycle paths, rehabilitation/modernisation of car parks and access roads;
4. Investments (rehabilitation/modernisation/extension and equipping) in buildings intended for public use for cultural and recreational activities.