Lehliu-Gară, the First Town in Romania with full Block Thermal Rehabilitation

06.03.2010

The thermal rehabilitation programme in Lehliu - Gară includes the performance of complex consolidation, wall restoration and covering works for all the 18 blocks in the town. The first stage of the programme has an estimate of 1.8M lei, and the works are performed by a company in Slobozia that has won the public tender held by the local authority. With this money, as per the design, the thermal insulation of the outer walls shall be performed, as well as the replacement of the existing outer windows and doors with better quality ones, which shall provide better insulation for each room; the roof framing shall receive thermal insulation and waterproofing; the thermal insulation of the basements and the outer finishing shall also be performed, including the painting of the facades.

According to the regulation regarding the thermal rehabilitation, 50% of the costs of the works shall be borne by the state budget, 30%, by the local budget, and the rest shall be the financial effort of each owner.

In the case of the town of Lehliu - Gară, however, through the efforts of the local authorities, the owners of the real estate will no longer need to contribute to the payment of the contractors. “We have tried to bring in as much money as possible to the budget and we have succeeded. With this money, we have been able to bear the rate of 20% which should have been covered by each owner, too”, as explained by Mayor Iulian Iacomi.

The mayoralty of the town of Lehliu Gară will also enter ten more blocks in the thermal rehabilitation programme, and for these, 3.3M lei will be available. Half of the amount is reserved from the state budget, and the other half will be settled by the local budget. The decision of the local authorities of bearing the percentages due by the inhabitants of the 18 blocks from the mayoralty budget is welcome, since most people living in these buildings have limited financial means. Had this decision not been taken, the thermal rehabilitation could not even have started in Lehliu-Gară.

The buildings in this town are rather old and have not been repaired for 20 years. According to the new regulations on thermal rehabilitation, as of this year, all the house tenants’ and flat owners’ associations that wish to increase the heat performance of their multi-storey buildings built between 1950 and 1990 may enjoy funds to that effect, regardless of their system of heating. The Ministry of Regional Development and Tourism claims that, in April of 2010, at the latest, all the 43,000 houses that should have undergone thermal rehabilitation last year will be completed. As regards the funds for the thermal rehabilitation programme for 2010, the amounts distributed by the government will not be able to cover the current demands. At the moment, the line ministry has received requests amounting to a total of 900M lei, three times the budget reserved by the Government for this year. A possible solution to the problem of the required funds is the accessing by the Minister of a loan for covering the demands. So far, steps have been taken with the European Investment Bank in view of granting a loan meant for supplementing the amounts of the thermal rehabilitation programme. However, the lack of funding is not the only problem delaying the rehabilitation. Hence, in several localities across the country, the works on the blocks are far behind the performance schedules due to the low temperatures this winter.

Online resources:

On the National Programme of Thermal Rehabilitation of the blocks of living spaces