Financiarul

As many as 91 projects submitted in the first stage of the “Green House” Program that unfurled over July 15 – August 14, 2009, will receive 79.9 million lei in financing, by 14.3 percent less than the 93.3 million lei initially applied for, shows data of the Environment Fund Administration (A FM) published on Friday, on the institution’s website.

From the list of the 91 approved projects, the Prahova County Council scored highest (100); the Council applied for 880,000 lei for five projects that will replace or supplement conventional heating systems with systems using alternative energy: two foster centers, two complexes of Community Services and the Center for disabled adults in Nedelea.

The Piatra Neamt Municipality (with 65 points) leads in terms of the assigned amount: 3.78 million lei as to 3.99 million lei initially applied for. This money will finance the completion of the 20 projects that include four nurseries, a highschool and 15 kindergartens.
‘Green House’ is a program aimed at replacing or supplementing conventional heating systems with eco-friendly systems that use alternative energy (solar, wind power, photovoltaic energy) and which will cost this year 310 million lei (about 75 million euros).

According to the Ministry of Environment, the approved projects get financing from the Environment Fund. A project qualifies for a subsidy of 80 pct of the total value, an amount payable from the Environment Fund pooled from the car tax. The amount includes the connection to the heating system and the VAT.

The limits set on disbursements are a maximum of four million lei for local governments of municipalities and towns with over 100,000 inhabitants and up 500,000 lei for localities with less than 3,000 inhabitants. The Environment Fund Administration kicked off over Nov. 9 – 27 the third stage of the ‘Green House’ Program that addresses this time hoteliers, with 100,000 lei assigned for the new project-submission session.