The FINANCIAL — The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is providing a €10 million loan to the city of Varna to finance priority infrastructure investments, identified by Varna’s Green City Action Plan.
The project falls under the EBRD Green Cities Framework and is jointly financed by the European Union Structural and Investment Funds with a €28 million grant.
The financing will be used to make Varna’s roads more resilient to climate change for its 470,000 people, which makes the city the third largest in Bulgaria. Floods in Varna are frequent and have claimed the lives of many and caused disasters. The plan is to enhance flood prevention, by separating the rainwater and wastewater sewerage systems, according to the EBRD.
In addition, a new temporary on-street paid parking zone supported by electric vehicle charging points will be introduced in 2018. Varna is the only major municipality in Bulgaria without paid on-street parking (also known as “blue zone” parking). Therefore, the city will use part of the funds to plan the parking zone and procure vehicles for on-street parking control such as tow trucks, electric and hybrid specialised vehicles and 31 electric vehicle charging stations. This pilot of municipal electric vehicles will promote the use of an environmentally friendly means of transportation and address the problem of air pollution by reducing the number of vehicles in the controlled area.
All investments will have a positive environmental effect including by employing EU standards, reducing pollution and greenhouse gas emissions or improving resource efficiency.
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