The local authorities will be able to carry out fast projects with implementation periods of at most six months to deal with urgent needs of localities through the agency of the national program “European Village Express”. The procedure for registering local and regional development projects for the contest will be simplified.

On the initiative of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Regional Development, the Government approved the changes needed to optimize the management of the National Regional and Local Development Fund, IPN reports.

This way, there were established four types of calls for proposals, one of them being an innovative one and referring to small grants calls organized in a simplified way. The new type of calls offers the applicants the possibility of preparing projects during a short period of time with a minimum set of documents and of applying for financing.

A new measure – improvement of energy efficiency of public buildings (kindergartens, schools, hospitals, old people’s homes and children’s homes) – was introduced in the “improvement of regional infrastructure of public utilities” division in connection with the energy crisis.

“Following the introduction of changes, the process of organizing contests for identifying, assessing and approving projects will be significantly improved,” said Minister of Infrastructure and Regional Development Lilia Dabija.

A number of 100 projects of the over 400 planned to be implemented as part of the national program “European Village Express” were completed and almost 100,000 people benefited as a result of these. More than 20,000 persons obtained access to drinking water, while almost 34,000 enjoy public lighting systems, with 14 kindergartens, nine secondary schools, three lyceums and 18 cultural centers being renovated and equipped.