Croatia approves 616 projects for improving energy efficiency in buildings

Croatia approved 616 projects worth KN 629 million (EUR 84,4 million) for the improvement of energy efficiency in residential buildings, announced Croatia’s Prime Minister Andrej Plenković.

These projects will use all EUR 70 million designated for this purpose by the Operational Programme for Cohesion Policy Funding 2014-2020. Additional funds will be used as well.

“In this way, consumption of energy and CO2 emissions will be reduced. The construction industry will receive a boost and there will be multiple, concrete effects for our citizens”, Plenković said after presenting the results of the public call for projects to reconstruct residential buildings.

Minister for regional development and European Union funds Gabrijela Žalac said that the realization of the public call demonstrated how the issue of financing projects from EU funds will be solved. The results of the public call are announced only days after the publication of a study that showed Croatia is almost not using the allocated EU funds for energy efficiency.

Minister for infrastructure and spatial planning Lovro Kuščević said that 60 percent of the expenses for each project will be provided from the allocated funds and 40 percent by the owners of residential buildings. This means that more than KN 1 billion (EUR 134,2 million) will be invested in the next year and a half to two years. Expected energy savings are 66.8 percent, and CO2 emissions should be reduced by 20,500 tons.

“These projects include the renovation of 1.4 million square meters of living space, more than 17.000 households. The average age of buildings is 50 years”, said Kuščević. He stressed that this is not the end of the reconstruction programs. Operational Programme for Cohesion Policy Funding also provides EUR 30 million for the renewal of family homes.

The minister added that the public call for the reconstruction of educational facilities, which will be funded with KN 152 million (EUR 20,4 million), ends on February 20. He also announced that the Government will adopt the Programme for energy efficient reconstruction of public buildings.

“Those are out schools, dorms and campuses, hospitals and the like. We allocated EUR 211 million for this Programme, thanks to the Ministry of regional development”, he said.