Prague, Jan 11 (CTK) – Calls for environment improving projects for another 20 billion crowns could be made in the Czech Republic this year, Environment Minister Richard Brabec (ANO) told CTK yesterday, adding that the ministry already registers 1400 projects worth 30 billion from last year.
These projects, which include boosting water retention in the landscape and connection of thousands of households to water treatment plants, must be assessed by end-April.
“Sewers, water mains and drinking water piping in connection with the future interconnecting of the supply and distribution systems will definitely be a priority. This is also one of the measures against drought,” Brabec said.
Subsidies will also be sent to waste management, the environmental burden removal, the replacement of harmful ways of heating households with environment-frinedly ones and an improvement in the quality of the air,” Brabec said.
The Czech Republic will be able to make use of more than 72 billion crowns within the Environment Operational Programme by 2020. Compared with the previous programme, the drawing of subsidies is to be less administratively arduous for both the applicants and recipients.
More than eight billion crowns are to go to fighting draught and to retaining water in the landscape in the next five years.
In the past, the Environment Operational Programme had problems in drawing subsidies and the losses were estimated at more than 25 billion crowns in the years 2013-15. They were gradually decreased under five billion and the losses in 2014 and 2015 may amount to maximally one billion, but Brabec wants to decrease them to zero, or hundreds of millions of crowns in the worse case.
Brabec said the drawing of subsidies has improved also because the work of the State Environmental Fund improved.
($1=24.873 crowns)
