Art.7 ERDF‘Sustainable Urban Development’

Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania

What have we achieved so far..?

Richard Harding

Independent Expert

Approach adopted to Integrated Sustainable Urban Development (ISUD)Art.7 ERDF 2014-2020

Priority Axis 4 (ROP)

• 11% of ERDF / €1.17bn

• 39 County Capitals targeted (no Bucharest or Tulcea)

‘Small towns’ also targeted outside Art.7 (new ROP Axis 13)

CLLD additional to Art.7 - 35 deprived urban areas – ERDF €101m / ESF €212 (from ESF OP)

CroatiaPopulation 4.2 million

50% of population covered by Art.7

RomaniaPopulation 19.5 million

30% of population covered by Art.7

Priority Axis 1 (OPRG)

• 20% of ERDF / €715m

• 39 urban areas targeted

(City levels 1, 2 and 3 of National Concept of Spatial Development 2013-2025)

CLLD outside Art.7 - ERDF €54m contribution to CLLD

BulgariaPopulation 7.0 million

75% of population covered by Art.7

Integrated Territorial Investments (ITIs)

• 6% of ERDF / €253mplus CF (OPCC) and ESF (from ESF OP)

Total €345m

• 7 largest urban agglomerations targeted

5 ‘small towns’ targeted outside Art.7

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Thematic content of Art.7 in BG / HR / RO, in relation to all EU Member States

Relative popularity of Thematic Objectives in Art.7 across the EUSource: Integrated territorial and urban strategies: how are ESIF adding value in 2014-2020? – EPRC December 2017

x2 x2 x2 x2

= Bulgaria

= Croatia

= Romania

ERDF Specific Objectives

o 4a - Energy Efficiency in both public and residential buildings - €107m (15%)

o 4e - Promotion of (…) sustainable urban mobility - €122m (17%)

o 6e - Action to improve urban environment €204m (29%)

o 9a - Investing in social infrastructure (social, sport and cultural) - €119m (16%)

o 10a - Investing in (…) education infrastructure - €163m (23%)

Refurbishment of education infrastructure: OPRG Axis 1 – Source MA

ISUD Strategies 2014-2020

‘Integrated Plans for Urban Regeneration and Development’ (IPURD)

o prepared in 2013 (under previous OP)

o correspond to city boundaries- but optional 20% flexibility to address links with broader FUA

o separation of each city into:- Public investment zone

- Economic development zone

- Social investment zone

One single Call issued by MA at the outset

o requesting Investment Programme (IP) from each city for the Art.7 interventions

Energy retrofit of buildings: OPRG Axis 1 – Source MA

Integrated transport system -Burgas: OPRG Axis 1 – Source MA

Urban Authorities in each target city

o Orchestrate city-level Working Groups to agree on IPURD priorities

o Agree on prioritisation of project ideas for Art.7 Investment Programmes (IPs)

o Report on implementation of IPURD and IPs

Other stakeholders - higher education, business associations, civil society groups etc.

o Participate in Working Groups

o Have some role in project prioritisation through public hearings and consultations

‘Added value of the Art.7 approach is evident in the greater efficiency of urban authorities in

delivering viable results for local people’ (MA)

Bulgaria – Role of local actors

ERDF Specific Objectives - €253m (73%):

o 3a2 - Development of entrepreneurship

o 4c3 - District heating systems

o 6c1 - Promotion of cultural heritage

o 6e2 - Rehabilitation of brownfield sites

Cohesion Fund Specific Objective - €50m (14%):

o 7ii2 – Sustainable urban transport

ESF Specific Objectives €42m (13%):

o 8ii1 - Labour market integration of youngunemployed

o 9i1 - Social inclusion of vulnerable groups

o 9iv2 - Access to high-quality social services

o 10iii3 - Improving Adult Education Systems andAdult Skills and Competences

o 10iv1 - Modernization and enhancement of VET

ISUD Strategies ‘to end 2020’

o Urban Agglomeration / FUA coverage

o Strategies contain outlines of ‘Strategic Projects’

o External ex-ante evaluation

Large number of individual Calls

o 60 separate Calls for ERDF/CF – many for single ‘Strategic Projects’

o Some possibilities for non-Urban-Authority Beneficiaries

Croatia – Key features

Brownfield area Rijeka.Source: https://www.interreg-central.eu

Artists impression of InnoBROD incubatorSource: www.ebrod.net/

Zagreb District Heating PlantSource: https://www.agfw.de/

Urban Authorities - embracing all municipalities in each Urban Agglomeration:

o Coordinate Steering Committee / Partnership Council and thematic Working Groups for strategy building

o Propose and prioritise projects for Art.7 interventions

o Monitor and report on ISUD strategy implementation

Other stakeholders

o Participate in Partnership Councils

o Broad involvement in thematic Working Groups, focus groups, web-consultation etc.

Open summer stage – Klis Fortress – SplitSource: Grad Split

ESF Call: Support for social inclusion and employment of marginalized groupshttps://esn.hr/

ERDF Specific Objectives

o 4e - Promotion of sustainable multimodal urban mobility - €958m (81%)

o 6e - Action to improve urban environment, to revitalise cities (…) - €106m (9%)

o 9b - Physical, economic, social regeneration of deprived communities - €50m (4%)

o 10 - (…) Developing education and training infrastructure - €65m (6%)

RomaniaContent of ISUD Priority Axis

ISUD Strategies 2014-2023

o Strong involvement of World Bank (variable by location)

o 7 former ‘Growth Poles’ from 2007-2013 - FUA coverage- other County Capitals – city-only coverage (did not take up FUA option)

o Few overall financial plans- due to ‘uncertainty of mainstream interventions’

Project development / selection

o 5 Calls launched - 1 per Specific Objective (2 for education infrastructure)- plus later Call for retrospective projects

Source: www.targovistenews.ro/

Troleibuz Solaris, Cluj – zero tailpipe emissions https://mobilitate.eu/

Planning for Sustainable Urban Mobility Corridor –Oradea https://oradeaindirect.ro/

Urban Authorities – role depends on whether Growth Pole or single urban area

o Coordinate partnership structures overseeing ISUD strategy preparation

o Propose long lists of projects for Art.7 interventions

Variable picture on monitoring provisions for ISUD strategy implementation

Non-governmental stakeholders

o Participate in partnership structures and

consultations on strategy

‘Strategy building exercise substantially helped

by previous experience from 2007-2013’ (MA)

Regional Development Agencies (RDAs)

o Assess quality/consistency of strategies

o 2-stage project approval process

▪ prioritisation of project ideas with Urban Authorities

▪ technical appraisal using external experts

Source: https://infoiasionline.ro/

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Bulgaria Contracted

BulgariaSpend

Romania Contracted

Romania Spend

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EU Spend

Croatia Contracted

Croatia Spend

Financial progress comparison - against EU median for SUD Priority Axis and ITI

Poland SUD ITIs Contracted

Poland SUD ITIs Spend

Source: ESIF Data and information from Managing Authorities

Sept 2019

Long initial delays – 2-3 ‘lost’ years

o Preparation and approval of ISUD strategies / implementation plans

o Designation of Urban Authorities as IBs

o Slowness in preparation of projects – local capacity deficits

Common implementation problems encountered

Operational bottlenecks

…too often dominate the implementation agenda

o Land assembly

o Legal aspects – EU Directives

o State Aid

o Public Procurement

Bulgaria - specific

- Non-standard interpretation of MA guidance by many city IBs

- National SCO methodology too late to be incorporated in Call

- Complexity of social infrastructure investments

Country-specific difficulties

Romania-specific

- SUMP needed for each city

- Public Service Contracts required for urban transport investments

- High complexity in urban transport tender specification

Croatia - specific

- Time spent on large number of separate Calls

- Complex State Aid issues –particularly for District Heating

- Lack of progress with ESF integration

o Functional Urban Area approach only partial – but some good examples

o Some tendency to “one fits all” approaches across different sizes of cities

o Variation in thematic scope of Art.7 interventions – number of Investment Priorities

o On-paper involvement of non-governmental stakeholders appears encouraging

o …yet Urban Authorities remain more-or-less the only Beneficiaries

o Nearly all investments are ‘hard’ ERDF – limited scope for synergies

Integration achieved ..?

To explore further:Greater complementarity with sectoral Priority Axes/Programmes and Policies -competitiveness, transport, human resources, environment.

Interesting practices upon which to build

Croatia

• Regional level coordination and contextualisation by RDAs

• Centralised expertise for complex tender preparation

• ISUD strategy update for 2021-2027 under OP Administrative Capacity

• Geographical targeting within urban areas

• Use of Financial Instruments:

- Energy efficiency

- Transport investments

- Urban environment

- Sport/Culture infrastructure

Bulgaria

• FUA approach with ‘Partnership Councils’ operating across municipal boundaries

• Use of SCOs (new options brought by Omnibus Reg.)