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Projects funded by the European Union are changing the lives of millions of Romanians

by AI | 20.Jan 2025 | Europe in brief AI

Non-reimbursable European funds and from the PNRR are used in Romania to raise services to European performance standards, impacting citizens’ lives.

Photo: Arad Water Company

Bucharest – Four wastewater treatment plants have been built or upgraded in Arad County (western Romania) with European cross-border funds, so that the water discharged into two important rivers – Mureș and Crișul Alb – now meets environmental standards.

In the last four years, the Arad Water Company has carried out water treatment projects in the city of Arad and other localities after applying for European funds through the INTERREG RO-HU Program. Partnering in obtaining cross-border funds was the water company from the Hungarian city of Szeged, which developed similar projects.

The project “Improving Quality Management of Transboundary Rivers: Criș (Körös), Mureș (Maros), and Tisa (Tisza)” had a total funding of 13,248,852 lei (approximately 2,662,313 euros) for Arad County. The funding was obtained in 2019, and the works were carried out between 2021 and 2024.

Also in Arad, the district heating network in the county capital will be modernized with European funds, through the Modernization Fund, announced the Minister of Energy, Sebastian Burduja, who signed the financing contract worth nearly 280 million lei (over 56 million euros). Of this amount, 233 million lei (almost 47 million euros) are non-refundable European funds.

“I would like the best practice example from Arad to be applied in all major cities of Romania, including Bucharest, to reach European performance standards, with the support of European funds. We are talking about projects that can fundamentally change the lives of millions of Romanians living in urban areas and who have expectations for quality local services. It is crucial that all opportunities we have now are utilized,” declared the minister Sebastian Burduja.

By signing this new financing contract, the Ministry of Energy is now supporting the implementation of a total of 6 projects in the district heating sector, in Suceava, Craiova, Constanța, Cluj-Napoca, Timișoara, and Arad. The total value of the projects is over 1.905 billion lei (383.010 million euros), of which 1.421 billion lei (285.597 million euros) represent the funding provided through the Modernization Fund, non-refundable money.

In parallel with this new investment, the Arad City Hall is implementing the modernization project of the Thermal Power Plant (CET), worth 534 million lei (over 107 million euros), which will be completed next year with funding from the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). (17.1.2025)