Report on Environmental Investments 2006
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REPORT ON ENVIRONMENTAL INVESTMENTS 2006 Riga REPORT ON ENVIRONMENTAL INVESTMENTS 2006 CONTENTS FOREWORD ����������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 3 INVESTMENTS IN Environmental PROTECTION ����������������������������������������������� 4 ATTRACTION OF CO-FINANCING FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION ������������� 8 INVESTMENTS IN DEVELOPMENT OF water serviCES INFRASTRUCTURE ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 10 Implementation of the projects co-financed by the Cohesion Fund ���������������������11 Implementation of the ERDF co-financed projects ��������������������������������������������� 13 INVESTMENTS IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF WASTE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM ���������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 15 Implementation of the projects co-financed by the Cohesion Fund �������������������� 17 Implementation of ERDF co-financed projects ��������������������������������������������������� 18 INVESTMENTS IN NATURE PROTECTION �������������������������������������������������������������� 19 Implementation of the ERDF co-financed projects ��������������������������������������������� 19 Implementation of LIFE co-financed projects ������������������������������������������������������ 20 Implementation of INTERREG co-financed projects ������������������������������������������� 23 INVESTMENTS IN THE Radiation SAFETY ����������������������������������������������������������� 23 REPORT ON ENVIRONMENTAL INVESTMENTS 2006 FOREWORD Analysing the current period of account it can be said that the environmental infrastructure of Latvia is being developed more and more rapidly and in high quality. Information provided on the accomplished measures and still designed and the financial means invested in order to ensure implementation of the environmental policy in 2006 is the evidence given in this report� In 2006 the Ministry of the Environment continued implementation of the environmental investment strategy by involving in the implementation of projects in the fields of environmental protection infrastructure, nature protection, radiation safety, development of environmental monitoring and capacity building of environmental protection institutions. In the same way as in the previous years, co-financing has been attracted from the European Union Cohesion Fund, European Regional Development Fund, EU Transition Facility programme, LIFE – Nature and INTERREG in order to implement the above mentioned projects. Totally in 2006 more than 53 million lats were invested in environmental protection projects. Up to now, this is the highest amount of financing invested in the environmental protection field within one year in Latvia during the time period from 1995 till 2006. Overall, 277 million lats have already been invested in the environmental protection in this more than ten years’ period, of which 100 million lats is foreign financial assistance. Notwithstanding the achievements, the Ministry of the Environment and its collaboration partners – municipalities – still face with the project cost increase. This is a significant problem which makes it difficult to implement investment projects. In order to cover the financial gap that has emerged due to rise in prices the Ministry of the Environment attracted 7.18 million euro from the EU Cohesion Fund co-financed projects in 2006. In addition, following a respective decree of the Cabinet of Ministers, an opportunity was also given to plan additional means to be received from the state budget for the implementation of several projects co-financed by the Cohesion Fund. In its turn, for the projects co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund, the aim of which is to remediate non-compliant municipal solid waste dump sites, as well as for the eco-tourism infrastructure development projects in the Natura 2000 territories, the state having undertaken extra obligations, additional 1.72 million lats were made available. Within its limits the Latvian Environmental Protection Fund has allocated financing as well in order to cover rise in prices of the projects co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund. Along with the implementation of the existing projects, in 2006 attention was paid to the attraction of financial resources to new measures as well. Among them, co-financing from the European Union funds, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the USA Energy Department was approved for environmental protection projects in the amount of 42.77 million euro. Substantiation was elaborated for environmental protection activities within the “State Strategic Reference Framework 2007–2013” under the operational programme “Infrastructure and Services”, for the implementation of which 549 million euro would be available from the Cohesion Fund and 243.69 million euro from the European Regional Development Fund. Most part of this financing – almost 563 million euro was foreseen for the improvement of water services quality. One of the determining factors for the acquisition of this financing would be the quality of respective projects. A commission established by the Ministry of the Environment for evaluation of construction projects of water services buildings, the conclusion of which is needed so that project applicants could qualify for the financing from the European Funds, already evaluated 98 preliminary ideas for water services infrastructure projects in 2006. To a great extent we can be satisfied with the achieved in the improvement of environmental infrastructure; however, there is still much to do. In this respect, crucial role will play not only the amount of available financing, but also the persistence and high professionalism of project developers and implementers. Without doubt, Latvian environmental specialists have force to work so that the quality of our state’s environment would be rapidly improved. Minister for the Environment Raimonds Vējonis 3 REPORT ON ENVIRONMENTAL INVESTMENTS 2006 INVESTMENTS IN Environmental PROTECTION In 2006 financing was invested in the environmental protection infrastructure and institutional capacity building projects, as well as in preparation of projects and in elimination of after-effects caused by accidents. With the attracted financing from the European Union (EU) funds, projects were implemented with the investment amount being 53.567 million lats. Most of the financing came from the EU funds – it was 51.6% of total investments, state budget financing was 22%, but financing from project owners was 26% of financing invested in the environmental protection (Figure 1)� EU funds’ co-financing 27.613 Financial means 14.051 of investment project owners 11.902 State budget 0.00 5.00 10.00 15.00 20.00 25.00 30.00 Figure 1. Investments in the environment according to the financing source, 2006, million VLL In 2006 investments in the environmental protection reached the highest level (Figure 2). In the time period from 1995, 277.4 million lats have been invested in the environmental protection projects, of which 100.9 million lats are foreign financial assistance. 27% of foreign financial assistance was invested in 2006. 60.00 50.00 40.00 30.00 20.00 10.00 0.00 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 Foreign financial assistance State budget Financial means of investment project owners Figure 2. Dynamics of the contribution by financing sources in the environmental sector, 1995-2006, million LVL 4 REPORT ON ENVIRONMENTAL INVESTMENTS 2006 In 2006, in the environmental protection there were invested 27.613 million lats of the approved co-financing from the EU funds and programmes. Almost 77% of the financing was the Cohesion Fund co-financing, financing from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) comprised 18% of the EU fund financing part, Phare and Transition Facility – 3.4%, INTERREG – 0.01% and Solidarity Fund ~ 1.4% (Figure 3)� 0.374 Solidarity Fund 0.004 INTERREG 0.936 Phare/Transition Facility 5.061 ERDF 21.238 Cohesion Fund 0.000 5.000 10.000 15.000 20.000 25.000 Figure 3. Contribution of EU funds and programmes in environmental protection projects, 2006, million LVL 66% of the total investments in 2006 were invested in development of water services infrastructure, in municipal waste management ~15%, in development of environmental monitoring system ~ 1.6%, in nature protection ~ 0.5%, in radiation safety ~ 0.3%. Significant support was also to the preparation of projects – almost 16% of the invested financial means in the environmental protection (Figure 4)� 0.164 0.866 8.497 0.272 8.227 35.540 Development of water services Waste management Nature protection Development of environmental monitoring system Radiation safety Technical assistance Figure 4. Division of investments by the priority sectors, 2006, million LVL Analysing investments in the environmental protection by planning regions, implementing waste management and water services development infrastructure projects co-financed by the Cohesion Fund, most investments, including financing from the state budget, the Cohesion Fund and project owners, was contributed in Riga planning region ~ 41%, 5 REPORT ON ENVIRONMENTAL INVESTMENTS 2006 Latgale ~ 26%, Kurzeme ~19%, Vidzeme ~ 7.5% and Zemgale planning region ~ 7% of total investments (Figure 5). In total 37.764 million lats were invested in the infrastructure development projects co-financed by the Cohesion Fund. 9.733