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The Urban Dimension of Romania’s Cohesion Policy REGIONAL OPERATIONAL PROGRAMME 2007-2013Gabriel FRIPTU Head of the Managing Authority for Regional Operational Programme Ministry of Regional Development and Housing
Development of Romania in terms of GDP • Romania’s GDP = 38.4% of the EU-27 average
Indicative financial allocation from Structural Instruments for 2007-2013 • Structural and Cohesion Funds : 19.7 billion Euro • OPs Convergence: 19.2 billion Euro, out of which: • ROP: 3.7 billion Euro (19.5%) • OPs European Territorial Cooperation: 0,5 billion Euro + National co-financing (state budget, local budget, private contribution):5.5billion Euro • Instruments for Agriculture and Rural Development: 13.3 billion Euro
Operational Programmes under Convergence Objective National Coordinator – Ministry of Finance
Regional Operational Programme 2007-2013 - Financial allocation - Total allocation : 4.4 billion Euro, out of each: • 3.7 billion Euro– ERDF • 0.7 billion Euro– NationalContribution (state budget, local budget, private contribution)
Regional Operational Programme 2007-2013- Strategic Objective - Supporting the economic, social, territorially balanced and sustainable development of the Romanian Regions, according to their specific needs and resources, focusing on urban growth poles, improving the business environment and basic infrastructure, in order to make the Romanian Regions, especially the ones lagging behind, more attractive places to live, visit, invest in and work.
Regional Operational Programme 2007-2013 - Specific Objectives - • To increase the economic and social role of urban areas, adopting a polycentric approach, in order to stimulate a more balanced development of regions; • To increase accessibility within regions and in particular the accessibility of urban areas and their connection to surrounding areas; • To increase the quality of social infrastructure of regions; • To increase the competitiveness of regions as business locations; • To increase the contribution of tourism to the development of regions.
ROP’ strategic approach for achieving a balanced territorial development • A differentiated financial allocation by Regions, according to their level of development; • Key importance given to the urban dimension in achieving a polycentric and a more balanced development of the country; • Concentration of investments in urban growth polesin order to stimulate the development of Romanian Regions andmaximize the impact of intervention; • The need to increase the accessibilityof cities, their connection to surrounding areasandimprove the links between rural and urban areas.
Regional Operational Programme 2007-2013- Priority Axes - Support to sustainable development of urban growth poles; Improvement of regional and local transport infrastructure Improvement of social infrastructure; Strengthening the regional and local business environment ; Sustainable development and promotion of tourism; Technical assistance.
Urban development characteristics - Weaknesses (I) - • Low level of urbanization level, compared with European Union Member States (55.2%); • At regional level, urbanization is historically correlated with overall economic development. With the exception of Bucharest-Ilfov (92.5%) the most urbanized regions are among the most prosperous ones: West Region (63.5%) and Center Region (59,8%); • In the East part of the country (North-East Region) as well as in the South (South and South-West Regions) the rural populationworking in agriculture activities is prevailing; • The existing of a large number of small and medium sized towns (about 90% in the total number of towns and cities) with limited urban functions and poor infrastructure; • Important migration flows of urban population towards rural areas and outside country;
Urban development characteristics - Weaknesses (II) - • Decreasing urban population ( 1990-2006) in all development regions; • Poor quality of public infrastructure (including road, health, social and education infrastructure), obsolete urban public utilities and failure to maintain historical and cultural assets; • Socio-economic decline of many regional urban centers and the diminishing of their role in the surrounding areas and Regions’ development; • Large cities increasingly experiencing congestion; • Disparities within towns and cities with deprived areas and neighbourhoods,having low level of quality of life; • The urban system is dominated by a large urban pole – Bucharest the Capital city and a regional network of secondary poles (large cities).
Urban development characteristics - Potential - • Cities concentrates economic activities and population, having potential to act as engines for economic development of the Regions; • Relatively well balanced distribution of large cities; • Every development region has at least one city with more than 200.000 inhabitants, which can stimulate and induce development in the surrounding areas; • Some urban areas in the west part of the country are becoming labour market poles;
“Support to sustainable development of urban growth poles”- Objective & key area of intervention - Allocated funds: 1.4 bill. Euro (30% in ROP financial allocation) Objective: To increase the quality of life and to create new jobs in cities, by rehabilitating the urban infrastructure, improving services, including social services, as well as by developing business support structures and entrepreneurship. Key area of intervention: Integrated Urban Development Plans implemented through projects addressing the following issues : Rehabilitation of the urban infrastructure and improvement of urban services, including urban transport; Development of sustainable business environment; Rehabilitation of social infrastructure, including social housing and improvement of social services.
“Support to sustainable development of urban growth poles”- Urban growth poles- • Three types of urban growth poles identified: • Growth poles - 7 large urban centers and their hinterland, designated by Government Decision: Iasi, Constanţa, Ploieşti, Craiova, Timişoara, Cluj-Napoca and Braşov; • Urban development poles – 13 cities, designated by Government Decision: Suceava, Bacău, Brăila, Galaţi, Piteşti, Râmnicu Vâlcea, Arad, Deva, Satu Mare, Baia Mare, Oradea, Sibiu and Târgu Mureş; • Urban centers - towns over 10.000 inhabitants, other than growth poles and urban development poles.
“Support to sustainable development of urban growth poles”Growth poles - implementation arrangements (I) • Seven coordinators, one for each growth pole; • Association for Intercommunity Development (AID) created; for each growth pole; it comprises the city identified as urban core of growth poles and territorial administrative units in their hinterlands (towns, communes). County Councils may also be members of this Association; • Establishes the geographical area of the growth pole; • Ensure the setting up of the technical team(s) of experts at the level of each growth pole, having the task to elaborate, monitore and implement the Integrated Urban Development Plan; • Set up the decision-making mechanismsfor each growth pole; • Agree the Integrated Development Plans, including an action plan containing a list of projects set up by AIDs;
“Support to sustainable development of urban growth poles”Growth poles - implementation arrangements (II) • Projects are financed from all operational programmes of NSRF, National Programme for Rural Development, as well as from national programmes and other sources: EIB, EBRD, etc; • Priority given by other Managing Authorities for SOPs to projects promoted by growth poles; • Regional Operational Programme allocates up to 50% (about 630 mil. Euro) from the financial allocation of ROP Priority Axis 1.
“Support to sustainable development of urban growth poles”Urban development poles - implementation arrangements • The projects are implemented within the administrative borders of cities designated as urban development poles; • Integrated Development Plans, including an action plan with a list of projects are set up by municipalities; they should contain at least two types of projects out of the three eligible categories of activities: urban infrastructure, business structures and social infrastructure; • The projects are financed from the funds allocated to ROP Priority Axis 1 (up to 20% - about 253 mil. Euro), as well as from national programmes, private sources etc.
“Support to sustainable development of urban growth poles”Urban centers - implementation arrangements • Urban centers are small and medium sized towns with over 10,000 inhabitants; • Integrated Urban Development Plans, including an action plan with a list of projects are set up by municipalities; they should contain at least two types of projects out of the three eligible categories of activities: urban infrastructure, business structures and social infrastructure; • Integrated urban development plans are implemented in “urban actions zones” with at list 10.000 inhabitants, geographically delineated within urban centers; • The projects are financed from the funds allocated to ROP Priority Axis 1 (up to 30% - about 503 mil. Euro), as well as from other sources.
“Support to sustainable development of urban growth poles” - Beneficiaries - • Local public authorities • Associations for Intercommunity Development • Partnerships between local public authorities
“Support to sustainable development of urban growth poles”- Implementation system - • A. Growth poles • Submission of the Integrated Urban Development Plans (IUDP) to the ROP MA for endorsement; • Submission of the projects included in IUDP’s action plan to the IBs of MA for ROP – in the case of projects financed under ROP and to the MA for SOPs – in the case of projects financed under other operational programmes for evaluation. • B. Urban development poles and urban centers • Submission of the integrated development plans together with the projects included in IUDP’s action planto the IBs of MA for ROP for evaluation.
“Support to sustainable development of urban growth poles” - Calls for proposal - • Calls for proposal launched in November-Decembre 2008: • Growth poles – open calls with rolling submission • Urban development poles – open calls with rolling submission • Urban centers –deadline submission (31st of March 2009)
Governing aspectsof the ROP’ urban dimension (I) • The Cities and Municipalities Associations were involved in the elaboration of ROP and identification of urban issues as being one of the most important priorities for Romania, in line with Community Strategic Guidelines for Cohesion 2007-2013 (attending to the fora organized both at national and regional level); • The Cities and Municipalities Associations are members of ROP Monitoring Committee as observers; • The Cities and Municipalities Associations contributed to the identification of growth poles and urban development poles; • The use of the integrated approach and Integrated Urban Development Plans as strategic planning tools;
Governing aspectsof the ROP’ urban dimension (II) • The participation of citizens to the elaboration of Integrated Urban Development Plans – a condition for the approval and financing of the projects within integrated urban development plans; • The use of Technical Assistance (pre-accession funds) to support the local authorities of growth poles to elaborate Integrated Urban Development Plans during the period June-November 2008; • Methodological Guidelines for the elaboration of Integrated Urban Development Plans carried out by ROP Managing Authority; • Regular meetings with representatives of the local authorities of growth poles and urban development poles, to support them in the process of Integrated Urban Development Plans’ elaboration and implementation.
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