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ANNEX
Model for operational programmes under the Investment for growth and jobs goal
to the
COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING REGULATION (EU) No …/..
laying down rules pursuant to Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund with regard to models for operational programmes under the Investment for growth and jobs goal and pursuant to Regulation (EU) No1299/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council on specific provisions for the support from the European Regional Development Fund to the European territorial cooperation goal with regard to models for cooperation programmes under the European territorial cooperation goal
CCI / <0.1 type="S" maxlength="15" input="S" “SME”>[1]Title / <0.2 type="S" maxlength="255" input="M"“SME > Operational Programme “Transport and Transport Infrastructure”
Version / <0.3 type="N" input="G"“SME >
First year / <0.4 type="N" maxlength="4" input="M"“SME >2014
Last year / <0.5 type="N" maxlength="4" input="M"“SME >2020
Eligible from / <0.6 type="D" input="G"“SME >2014
Eligible until / <0.7 type="D" input="G"“SME >2022
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NUTS regions covered by the operational programme / <0.12 type="S" input="S“SME >
SECTION 1 strategy for the operational programme's contribution to the Union strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth AND THE ACHIEVEMENT OF ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND TERRITORIAL COHESION
(Reference: Article 27(1) and point (a) of the first subparagraph of Article 96(2) of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council)[2]
1.1. Strategy for the operational programme's contribution to the Union strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and to the achievement of economic, social and territorial cohesion
1.1.1. Description of the programme’s strategy for contributing to the delivery of the Union strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth and for achieving economic, social and territorial cohesion.
<1.1.1 type="S" maxlength="70 000" input="M"> Strategy "Europe 2020" - EU strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth includes 5 headline targets for 2020, as follows:· Employment - work for 75% of people aged between 20 and 64 years
· R&D and innovations - investing 3% of EU GDP (public and private sectors combined) in research and development and innovations
· Climate changes and energy - reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20% compared to 1990; obtaining 20% of energy from renewable energy sources (individual goal for Bulgaria 16%) and increasing energy efficiency by 20%
· Education - reducing the share of early school leavers to under 10% and achieving a share of people aged 30-34 with tertiary education of at least 40%
· Poverty and social exclusion - at least 20 million fewer poor people or people at risk of poverty and social exclusion.
The objectives of Strategy "Europe 2020" adapt and become national targets for each EU Member State in accordance with the specific situation and circumstances in the country. These national targets are set out in the National Reform Programme, a document which Bulgaria prepares and reviews annually in the implementation of Strategy "Europe 2020". Apart from the national targets, it also identifies the priority areas (growth factors) to focus the efforts and defines the reforms and the specific measures for their implementation. One of the identified growth factors and a priority of the Bulgarian government is “Better Infrastructure". Its implementation will provide better connectivity to Europe, sustainable and competitive regions with accessible services and better connectivity between them and the less developed areas, preservation and promotion of the Bulgarian cultural and historical heritage and natural resources. The improvement of the transport infrastructure in the country will contribute to the economic development and raising the standard of living of the population.
The National Development Programme: Bulgaria 2020 (NDP BG2020) is the leading strategic and programming document detailing the objectives of the development policies of the country to 2020. NDP BG2020 is an integrated document for the socio-economic development of Bulgaria to 2020, showing the relationship between EU priorities in the context of the strategy “Europe: 2020” and the national priorities of Bulgaria. One of the objectives of the National Development Programme is “Building infrastructural networks providing optimal conditions for economic development and quality and healthy environment for the population”. There are eight priorities identified, including the priority “Improving transport connectivity and market access”, which includes the following sub-priorities:
· Building a sustainable railway transport system by reforming the sector;
· Effective maintenance, modernization and development of transport infrastructure. Integration of the Bulgarian transport system in the European transport system;
· Achieving a high level of safety and security of transport;
· Reducing the negative impact of transport on the environment and human health;
· Sustainable development of mass public transport;
· Improving the connectivity and integration of the Bulgarian regions nationally and internationally, and connectivity to major urban centres in neighbouring countries.
According to the General Regulation for the programming period 2014-2020 (Article 16), the assistance from EU funds should focus on activities that have the highest added value to the strategy “Europe 2020” for smart, inclusive and sustainable growth. Therefore, Article 9 of the General Regulation identifies 11 thematic objectives that Member States should necessarily comply in the process of preparation of their operational programmes. Thematic objective No 4 is “Supporting the shifts towards a low-carbon economy in all sectors”. Thematic objective No 7 is “Promoting Sustainable Transport and Removing Bottlenecks in Key Network Infrastructures”. According to the published EC working document on the elements of the Common Strategic Framework for 2014-2020, sustainable development requires compliance with the EU acquis in the field of environment and investment in areas with the highest European added value – Trans-European Networks.
The concept of competitive and sustainable developed transport system, set in the White Paper "Roadmap to a Single European Transport Area: Towards a Competitive and Resource Efficient Transport System” of 28 March 2011, includes measures to ensure growth in transport and mobility support while achieving the planned emissions reduction of 60% by 2050 compared to 1990 level, measures to ensure effective core network for multimodal intercity travel and transport, measures for environmentally clean urban transport and commuting.
The Guidelines for the development of the Trans-European Transport Network aim to contribute to achieving a wide range of objectives. This includes the sustainable mobility of people and goods and promoting the development of domestic market and the global competitiveness of the Community while ensuring territorial, economic and social cohesion, social welfare, safety and security for EU citizens, taking into account environmental factors, including climate change, air pollution and protected areas. While the relatively thick “comprehensive network” consisting of railways, roads, inland waterways, ports and airports is a significant part of the network at national level, the so-called “core network”, as part of the “comprehensive network” emphasizes the priority shares and gives expression to the European perspective of planning. Europe needs a Pan-European “core network” of corridors that provide transportation of freight and passenger traffic with high efficiency and low emissions, ensuring a wider use of the existing infrastructure, completion of the missing links and removal of the “bottlenecks” and the use of more efficient services in their multimodal combination.The National Spatial Development Concept for the period 2013 - 2025 is a medium-term strategic document that provides guidelines for the structure, management and conservation of the national territory and territorial sea and creates preconditions for spatial orientation and coordination of sectoral policies. The first strategic objective of the concept is "Integration in the European area" - development of national and cross-border transport, energy, urban, cultural and ecological corridors with a view to achieve territorial connectivity, collaboration and integration in the region and in the European area. One of the main priorities to achieve the strategic objective is “Development of the national transport infrastructure as part of the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T), providing integration in the European area and links to the main urbanization centres of the neighbouring countries”. The model of the transport infrastructure is based on the established configuration with Sofia as a centre in Western Bulgaria and Varna and Burgas as balancing centres to the East and this model will develop with uniform parallel and meridian axes, providing moderate polycentric development system of settlements.
According to the Strategy for Development of the Transport System of the Republic of Bulgaria to 2020, the mission of the transport sector in Bulgaria is to promote the economic and social development of the country. The defined vision for development is “by 2020 Bulgaria should have a modern, safe and secure transport system that meets the needs for high-quality transport and provides much greater choice of individuals and businesses”.
The defined objectives of the national transport policy are as follows:
Achieving economic efficiency through:
· Strengthening the competitiveness of the Bulgarian transport system
· Creating the appropriate conditions for sustainable growth in domestic and international traffic upon increased energy efficiency
· Ensuring conditions of fair competition between and within the different transport modes.
Development of sustainable transport sector through:
· Reducing the negative impact of transport on the environment and climate
· Integrating the Bulgarian transport system in the European transport system
· Achieving a high level of safety and security of the transport system.
Improvement of the regional and social development and commitment through:
· Coordinated development of the transport sector in line with the economic and social development at national and regional level
· Improving at regional level the access to transport corridors and promoting the development of border areas
· Providing the mandatory public transport services at affordable prices for the population.
The national transport system establishes relatively good conditions for the functioning of all modes of transport – railway, road, sea, inland-waterway, air and intermodal transport. An advantage is the high level of construction and density of existing transport infrastructure. Bulgaria has over 19 thousand km. national roads, over than 6 thousand km. rail, sea and river ports and airports. The airport’s infrastructure of the country is well developed, but its capacity in recent years rapidly depleting. Bulgarian sea and river ports of national importance have sufficient capacity for handling freights. Connections of the airports and public ports of national importance to the national road and railway network are built. The Danube River ensures connections to the European system of channels for inland waterway transportations. The main problem is that most of the assets of the transport network are in unsatisfactory condition which cause negative impact on the possible maximum speeds, time needed to travel, comfort and exploitation expenditures. It is essential the new or rehabilitated infrastructure to be maintained in a manner allowing the infrastructure to continue to provide planned levels of quality and capacity in the future.
In the area of land transport services (passengers and freight), the road transportations prevail over the transportations by rail. Sea transport and inland waterway transport are with a stable share in the freight transportations. It is expected the freight traffic of all modes of transport to increase with development of industry and international trade. On the market of international passenger services the aviation and bus carriers are leading. Public transportations in the country are carried out mainly by bus carriers and „BDZ-Passenger services” Ltd. The railway transport has a serious potential for development, which depends basically on the modernization of the railway network and rolling stock.
The national transport system development is related to the improvement of the characteristics of the transport network, existing capacity – physical and operational structure of the network and volumes that can be transferred depending on demand of transport services, as well as exploitation condition of the network and ability to provide reliable and safe transport services. The territory of the country is covered with railway lines, motorways and speed roads in a vary unbalanced manner. Connections with neighbour countries are insufficiently developed. It is necessary the construction of continuous and coherent transport networks with unified exploitation characteristics, ensuring fast and safe transportation on long distance in the country, to, of and through Bulgaria. Investments should be concentrated mainly on completion of priority railway and road directions and promotion of intermodal transport – construction of intermodal terminals and improvement of ports and airports connections to the road and railway network. Gradually completing the main sections of Trans-European transport network a better integration of the national transport network into EU transport network and improved connections with neighbour countries will be achieved.
In the update process (dated 2013) of the transport model, prepared as a part of General Transport Master Plan, the main sections of the road and railway network with expected major traffic increase were identified until 2020 and 2030, where demand forecast is near to or higher than existing capacity. Highest average Annual Daily traffic volume of road transport in 2020 is expected on the sections Sofia-Bourgas, Sofia-Kulata, Sofia-Ruse, Sofia-Varna, Bourgas-Varna and Ruse-Nova Zagora. Concerning railway network the traffic is concentrated on the sections Dragoman-Bourgas, Karnobat-Sindel, Dragoman-Svilengrad, Ruse-Varna, Vidin-Kulata, Sofia-Varna, Ruse-Stara Zagora.
Railway transport is a core element of the national transport system and its development, in conformity with the European transport policy, is of material importance for the overall development of economy in the Republic of Bulgaria.
The main identified problems and needs in relation to development of railway transport are the unsatisfactory condition of the railway infrastructure and the rolling stock, this being a prerequisite for the relatively low speed and level of service of passenger and freight transport and the insufficient integration of the national railway network with the European railway network. The regional railway network at level 2 is not fully utilized; especially the passenger services are concentrated mainly on road transport. It is necessary to be improved and developed connections of sea and inland-waterway ports and airports to the national railway network, which is also required in the Guidelines of the Union for development of the Trans-European transport network. The establishment of modern signalling and communication systems is needed and very important with regard to the traffic safety.