Category:Burgas

Municipality of Burgas

About the Municipality

The Municipality of Burgas is the largest municipality located in southeastern Bulgaria on an area of 514,362 hectares, representing 0.43% of the country. The city of Burgas is an important industrial, commercial, transport, tourism and administrative center of the Municipality and South-East region of Bulgaria. The economy has a diverse character, which makes the Municipality the economic leader and an important center for the development of the region. The main branches of economic activity within the Municipality are: • industry, which accounts for 13.4%; • services - 23.2%; • transport - 8.3%; • trade - 51%; • construction - 5%. The city of Burgas boasts an international airport which benefits from the area’s unique yearround weather conditions and is only adopted to accept supersonic aircrafts. Here is also situated the largest port the country – port of Burgas which has the only oil terminal south of Balkan mountains. Burgas is one of the first municipalities in the country that have joined the initiative Covenant of Mayors on February 10, 2009 in Brussels, thus undertaking to decrease the levels of CO2 by over 20 % by 2020. In order to accomplish its goals the Municipality developed a long-term Strategy for sustainable energy development 2020, SEAP 2011-2013 and an Integrated Transport Plan. a description of the legal entity and its main tasks

The responsibilities of Burgas Municipality are connected with management of: municipal property, municipal enterprises, municipal finances, municipal administration; development of municipal territory and populated areas; education; health care; culture; management and development of public services, social services; environmental protection and sustainable development; maintenance and protection of cultural, historical and architectural monuments; development of sport amd tourism. Burgas Municipality has a significant experience in preparation and implementation of interregional cooperation projects, funded by European programmes directed towards sustainable development, infrastructure improvement, environmental protection, energy efficiency, transport, improving the quality of services intended for citizens etc. We implement projects financed from INTERREG IVC, Intelligent Energy Europe, Youth in Action etc. Municipality has good relations and proved experience with other local public authorities and international organisations. It is a member of National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria (NAMRB), Association of Municipalities in South-East Region, Bulgaria, EUROCITIES, ICLEI. In 2009 Burgas joined the Covenant of Mayors and following its obligations developed and submitted for approval “STRATEGY FOR SUSTAINABLE ENERGY DEVELOPMENT 2011 - 2020” and “ACTION PLAN 2011 – 2013“. The SEAP of Burgas was approved by the Covenant of Mayors secretariat. Specific objectives in the SEAP of Burgas are: • “Increase energy efficiency in households”. • “Increase public awareness and developing a new energy efficient behavior in the home and business”. • “Create and promote "green" identity of Burgas Municipality”.

Implementing the activities included in the current project will contribute for reaching the SEAP objectives and support the politic led by the local authority for recognition of Burgas as a “green” city.

Burgas Municipality participated in the development, adaptation, and translation of the Bulgarian version of “Covenant capacity” training platform, which deals with developing a new SEAP (“1st generation” SEAP) and provides ideas when reviewing existing SEAPs (“2nd generation” SEAP). It gives basic guidance, offers ideas, hints, tips and tools - dealing with people, structures, processes for politicians and technical staff. The platform is developed within project "Capacity building of local governments to advance Local Climate and Energy Action – from planning to action to monitoring" (Covenant Capacity), co-funded by the Intelligent Energy Europe programme.http://www.covenant-capacity.eu/

Burgas Municipality participated in the development of widely recognized and highly valued EcoMobility label for urban areas that sets EU-wide EcoMobility standards for walking, cycling, wheeling and public transport and establishment of a user-friendly Quality Management System for mobility departments in local authorities that tells them where and why they are performing well, and how they could perform even better. http://eaci-projects.eu/iee/page/Page.jsp?op=project_detail&prid=2416

Projects

1) Sustainable NOW - 'European Sustainable Energy Communities - Effective Integrated Local Energy Action Today' (IEE Programme) Link: http://www.sustainable-now.eu/

2) CASCADE (IEE Programme) is a three-year project (2011-2014) of networking and peer-to-peer learning on local energy leadership. It supports cities in delivering the Europe 2020 targets for energy and climate change. Link: http://www.cascadecities.eu/

3) "Capacity building of local governments to advance Local Climate and Energy Action – from planning to action to monitoring" (Covenant Capacity) is a 3-year project, co-funded by the Intelligent Energy Europe programme. It started in June 2011 and runs until May 2014. The main project aim is to assist Sustainable Energy Action Plan (SEAP) development in Europe - from motivation, planning, implementation, to monitoring and evaluating. Link: http://www.covenant-capacity.eu/EU

4) The EcoMobility SHIFT project (June 2010 - May 2013) aims at developing a method to assess, improve and promote the environmental sustainability of local governments' transport and land-use planning policies. Municipalities will be able to obtain an ‘EcoMobility Label' that values their efforts to improve the ‘friendliness' of their cities, neighborhoods and facilities for pedestrians, cyclists, wheelers and public transport users. Link: http://eaci-projects.eu/iee/page/Page.jsp?op=project_detail&prid=2416

5) Project PassREg Passive House Regions with Renewable Energies. A project supported by Intelligent Energy Europe triggering the successful implementation of Nearly Zero Energy Buildings throughout the EU. 14 Partners, 11 Countries, 3 Years, 1 Goal: Supporting the growth of Passive House regions towards an EU energy revolution. Link: http://www.passreg.eu/index.php

So far Burgas Municipality has introduced energy efficiency measures in 113 municipal buildings – schools and kinder gardens, administrative buildings, sports halls, cultural centres etc. In this way almost 100% of the public infrastructure is renovated, as the ambition of the local authority is in the next two years 100% of the public buildings to be renovated and receive a certificate for energy efficiency. In several of the buildings are introduces systems for account of energy consumption.

The Municipality of Burgas has committed itself to the deep energy renovation of the publicly-owned building stock, among other things, in its Sustainable Energy Action Plan developed through the Covenant of Mayors initiative. Additionally, the use of EU Cohesion Policy financial instruments for projects in the area of energy efficiency and renewable sources was coordinated through the Integrated Plan for City Reconstruction and Development 2014-2020, in which specific building renovation projects and the corresponding savings are specified and listed as acceptable for public funding. Although the low level of decentralization in Bulgaria is to some extent hampering the efforts of the local authorities to stimulate the introduction of NZEB concept on the basis of the Passive House Standard, Burgas Municipality is deeply motivated to achieve this goal. In this light, Burgas is plans to emphasise awareness raising activities and the stimulation of market demand. It has also recognised the need for the active engagement of the investors in order to achieve the implementation of the Passive House Standard on site, since, in the case of Bulgaria, they are usually the end users of buildings. Another pillar of Burgas’ plan is strong cooperation with educational establishments so as to support a knowledgeable and demanding young audience attuned to issues of sustainability, energy consumption and climate change mitigation.