LV 1,500 MLN TO BE DISBURSED UNDER OPERATIONAL PROGRAMMES IN 2011

Another 1,500 million leva is to be disbursed under Bulgaria's EU-backed operational programmes in
2011, bringing the fund absorption rate to 20 per cent, EU Funds Minister Tomislav Donchev told the media on Monday, BTA reported. The money paid in 2010 totalled 1,100 million leva. "Our goal until the end of 2012 should be to disburse no less than 35-40 per cent of these funds. By 2013 we should exceed 50-55 per cent, and by the end of 2015 we should come close to 100 per cent," he said.

To this end, Bulgaria will implement large infrastructure projects, such as the Strouma and Maritsa motorways, the Plovdiv-Bourgas railway and the Kurdjali-Podkova road, he said.Talks have been underway since November 2010 with European Commission experts who have recommended to Bulgaria to adopt a pilot housing policy model for its ethnic minorities, particularly the Roma. The government will provide conditions and materials to these people to help them build homes, probably prefabricated structures, Donchev said. Land plots are being designated for the purpose and beneficiaries are being selected. They will receive help from technicians and engineers in assembling their houses.