Romania will invest 1 billion euros from the European Union’s budget over the next seven years to expand its natural gas distribution network, announced Romanian Prime Minister Ludovic Orban.
Only 35 % of the country’s population has access to the gas distribution network, compared to a 90 % gasification rate in Hungary, which has much smaller domestic resources, according to PM Orban.
With the planned investments, the gasification rate will at least double, PM Orban concluded.
He said that the first 200 million euros from this amount will be earmarked under the 2014-2020 EU budget, and the procedures for having the funds allocated are close to completion. The call for projects to be financed under this first tranche will be launched by 1 August at the latest.
The remaining 800 million euros will come from the 2021-2027 EU budget.
