[size=55:4kmbsiga]Dnevnik 02 September 2010

Municipal rural development measures start on Sept 20

The measures under Bulgaria’s Rural Development Proramme 2007-2013 targeted at municipalities will accept project applications from September 20, said State Fund Agriculture, which administers the support scheme.

The original start was scheduled for September 1 but local governments requested an extension to be able to prepare their projects.

The new measures will finance municipal projects for population area renovation and development as well as main services for the population and the economy in rural regions. The advance payment on the two measures was increased from 20% to 505 at the start of the year.

The project cost cap for each municipality is set at EUR 10 million.

The measures under the Rural Development Proramme were temporarily suspended in the first months of 2010 until bureaucrats had to clear up some 11,000 unprocessed projects. The application process resumed in the middle of the summer.

According to State Fund Agriculture, 1,418 applications were submitted in the two months after mid-August. Photovoltaics (PV), tourism and semi-substance farm expansion projects ignited the strongest interest.