The government approved, in its Tuesday meeting, a national program for the introduction of natural gas in the rural area, worth 500 million euro, of which 200,000 households will benefit. The project will start with a pilot area, according to News.ro.

“Today is a historic day for the European funds system in Romania, because a number of extremely important measures have been adopted that we hope will help the European funds and the beneficiaries of European funds in Romania. A first measure is related to the National Program for the introduction of natural gas in the localities that are today heated on solid fuel,” said on Tuesday evening, after the Government meeting, the Minister of the European Funds, Marcel Bolos.

According to him, it is a moment of crossroads especially in terms of the use of European funds in the energy area.

“Today, although we are a country with a potential of quite large natural gas resources, only 36% of homes are connected to natural gas heating. The approved National Program has a value of 500 million euro and aims, at an initial stage, at 200,000 households in Romania that are heated with solid fuel, respectively wood,” said Bolos.