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Solar systems to oust broadband in Bulgaria’s rural areas
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dnevnik.bg , 20.07.2009
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The additional EUR 33.5 million the European Commission granted to rural areas under the European Economic Recovery Plan will be ploughed into renewable energy development instead of broadband infrastructure.
Approved budget funding brings the total to EUR 36.8 million by 2013, according to the proposal for allocation of the extra financial package sent by the Bulgarian farming ministry to Brussels. The proposal has been coordinated with the industry association, the ministry said.
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At the end of last year, the Council of Europe approved a package of just over EUR 1 billion of the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) that will be divvied up among member states to adjust their economies to the new conditions. Each member state had to identify its priorities in one of five areas including Internet broadband access, renewable energy investments, water resources management, preservation of biodiversity or dairy sector restructuring.
Analyses by European experts singled out Bulgaria and Romania as the countries with the poorest fibre-optic infrastructure in rural areas.
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Teodor Zahov, chairman of the Society for Electronic Communications (SEC) and of the Bulgarian Association of Information Technologies (BAIT) and executive director of alternative Internet telecom Spectrum Net, said the industry was surprised by the farming ministry’s decision to allocate the money to clean energy projects given that the government has drawn up a special strategy to develop broadband Internet access.
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Ivaylo Todorov, chairman of the Bulgarian farming producers’ association, which made the proposal to invest the funding in renewable energy, said that the projects will be implemented quickly and will help Bulgaria derive 16% of its energy from sustainable sources by 2020, satisfying a commitment in its EU accession treaty.
The association said that almost 300 solar, hydropower and biomass projects have already been prepared and are now pending regulatory approval.
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