The Regional Operational Program (POR) of the Center Region (in RO) is in development and it will finance both digitization and energy efficiency projects. At the end of October, the version to be presented to the European Commission was ready, said Ovidia Caba, Director of the Regional Policies, Programs, ADR Center, during the conference “Digitalization and Energy Efficiency – Sibiu”, organized by Energynomics. Various programs are provided, on nine axes, amounting to over 1.13 billion euros, in the period 2021-2027.
“After we send it to the European Commission, there may be changes [to the POR], but the priority axes start, on the one hand, from the regional needs, and, on the other hand, from the constraints of European policies. The European funds for the period 2021-2027 are directed on five policy objectives, and the Regulations impose certain restrictions on the allocation to certain categories of operations”, she said.
Thus, a priority area is the financing of digitization projects of public administration and SMEs. “For the administration, we also have a strategic project, a smart city platform. Digitization can no longer be separated from energy efficiency and any other field, it accompanies us at every step, and even if we have them [in POR] as separate policies, I think they go very well together,” she said.
In fact, SME development and energy efficiency were part of the two previous regional programs, developed by ADR, in the periods 2007-2013 and 2014-2020. “Energy efficiency components have been included – for residential and public buildings, public lighting or urban mobility. In the POR 2007-2013, almost 36% of the budget had at least one green component – public lighting, bicycle lanes, public transport monitoring, building efficiency. If we look at the current program, 2014-2020, 43% of the projects have an ecological component, with the evolution of funding from almost 200 million euros to over 577 million euros allocated to these areas”, she added.
Investments have been made in energy efficiency, in the rehabilitation of public and residential buildings, in urban regeneration and green spaces.
The ADR Center development plan includes six strategic areas: Sustainable territorial and urban development, Economic competitiveness – research and development and innovation, Human Resources, Environment, Tourism and Rural Development, agriculture and forestry. “We also have a smart specialization strategy aimed at identifying areas with smart growth potential. Most of the funding we will provide will go to nine such areas of specialization,” she added.
ADR Center region includes 6 counties: Alba, Harghita, Mureș, Sibiu, Brașov and Covasna and has over 2.3 million inhabitants and an urbanization rate of 57%. “We have a GDP per capita of 20,600 euros, which is 66% of the European Union average. We are a very well connected region, located on Pan-European Transport Corridor 4 and we are connected with the other regions of development. In the future, through the A8 and A13 motorways, we will have road connections with northern and eastern Romania.
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From an economic point of view, services predominate, followed by industry, construction and agriculture. An important boost was given by foreign direct investment; for this reason, the region’s exports are above the national average, the main exported goods being: machines, appliances, equipment, means of transport, etc.”, said Ovidia Caba.
The Center Region is a statistical region, and the Agency is responsible for activities such as regional planning and programming, program management and implementation – pre-accession funds were implemented between 2000 and 2007, after which ADR became, like other regional agencies, intermediate body for regional operational programs.
“Starting with the 2021-2027 programming period, we will be the managing authority, responsible not only for the implementation of national programs, but also for the elaboration and management of operational programs.” Among other missions of ADR there are developing partnerships at the European level and promoting local regions.
The conference “Digitalization and Energy Efficiency – Sibiu” was organized by Energynomics, with the support of our partners ABB România, Enel X România, Kawasaki Gas Turbine Europe GmbH, Photomate, Sixt, Wiren.
