“For now, there are on-going or already completed projects in the field of environment that have received funding from the EU in all regions of Estonia. Be it renovation of water supply or heating lines, closure of waste disposal sites or the creation of environmental education centres, for instance. Thanks to this aid, numerous environmental issues have been resolved and many jobs have been created. We paid 29.5 million euros to applicants in last December, which is historically the largest monthly sum paid,” said Keit Pentus, the Minister of the Environment. According to the Minister, the reasons for the good results were mainly the enhanced cooperation between the Ministry and the Environmental Investment Centre (EIC) and the internal reorganisation within the EIC. “The EIC has significantly strengthened its supervision of the project operators and has invested both human resources and time into resolving problems. It is especially remarkable that payments have gradually increased despite the problematic construction market where price hikes, bankruptcies and renouncement of contracts are quite common,” stated Pentus. Funding decisions of a total of 563 million euros have been made for structural support in the field of environment during the programming period 2007-2013. 156.5 million euros of this sum have been paid as of the end of 2011. The payment schedule of EU support is affected by the fact that in the field of environment, the projects are mostly large-scale infrastructure projects with a preparation period of several years, and payments can only be made after the preparation period. For example, several water management projects (which made up a large share of the Operational Programme for the Development of the Living Environment) reached this stage in 2011. Several actions were already completed in 2011, including the closure of the Rääma waste disposal site in Pärnu, the water management project of the town of Otepää, the reconstruction of district heating lines in the district of Ahtme in Kohtla-Järve, rebuilding of the boiler plant of Orissaare to work on forest chips instead of peat, and the project for preservation of biodiversity of the coastal meadow in Haeska. In addition to the support from the EU Structural Funds, more than a million euros of funds from the Norway’s EEA Financial Mechanism were paid in 2011. |
