The Government has raised the coverage for the completion of the Panel II Programme launched in 2009, whereby the refurbishment of almost 8 thousand dwellings may start in various places of the country, Minister of National Development Zsuzsa Németh announced in Győr on 16 November, 2013.

In the city with the highest number of subsidised dwellings, the minister presented the community of a local condominium with a document on awarding a subsidy of HUF 60 million. Investments performed in the past three years have made the homes of 215 thousand families more energy efficient, thereby reducing overhead costs, the minister said.

Through energy efficiency modernisation reducing environmental burden, CO2 emissions are decreased by some 100 thousand tons per year, Zsuzsa Németh underlined. This has been made possible by the successful effort to gradually fill up the funding gap of HUF 14bn in the Panel II Programme taken over by the Government in 2010.

Enabled by the reallocation of the last CO2 quota revenues, the programme is now to be completed, the Government having raised the funds for all condominium communities on the reserve list. Some 8000 homes in 140 condominiums are to be refurbished nationwide. The state funding is to be made available for condominium communities in Miskolc, Tiszaújváros and Veszprém, among others. The measure may produce contracts worth over HUF 9 bn for small and medium enterprises in the construction industry.

In Győr, the city with the highest number of subsidised dwellings, the decision has enabled the refurbishment of 603 homes in 18 blocks of flats, through subsidies of some HUF 300m, mayor of the county seat Zsolt Borkai revealed. The experience of the Panel Programme has been positive in Győr so far; it is not without a reason that the local authority of Győr, too, has devoted several billion forints to subsidising condominiums in recent years. The local authority is now to contribute by over HUF 200m to the programme that is hoped to ease the burden on as many families as possible.

Minister of State for Development and Climate Policy Attila Imre Horváth confirmed that the new investments would not only support families but facilitate the attainment of Hungary’s energy saving targets as well. As part of the process, the draft of the National Building Energy Strategy has been worked out. The document based on a comprehensive survey is to enable the launching of a wide-scale building energy support programme in 2014.

(Ministry of National Development Communications Department)