The establishment of an Urban Development Fund will boost the investment to revitalise six major cities in Bulgaria. The funds will be provided by private investors and from the JESSICA funds, which is manage by the European Investment Bank. The investment will be addressed to urban projects located in the cities of Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, Ruse, Stara Zagora and Pleven in the next four years.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has concluded an agreement establishing an Urban Development Fund (UDF) with “Regional Urban Development Fund”. The UDF is established as a joint stock company by Societe Generale Expressbank, Elana Holding, Elana Investment and Balkan Advisors, namely the members of a Consortium led by Société Générale Expressbank, to invest approximately €18.8 million of JESSICA funds and approximately an additional €37.6 million of its own funds (in total €56.4 million) in the next four years into urban projects located in the cities of Plovdiv, Varna, Burgas, Ruse, Stara Zagora and Pleven. Besides one of the latest announcement made by the EIB has been the grant of €50 million loan to the Spanish company Industria de Turbo Propulsores.

The Consortium partners are expected to fulfil the main objectives of the UDF, namely to support sustainable urban transformation investments aimed at more competitive, socially inclusive and sustainable urban areas fostering better quality of life and welfare, as well as improved accessibility to basic public and private services. The JESSICA investment portfolio in the abovementioned six major cities may include projects to rehabilitate deprived urban areas, basic infrastructure works, energy networks and energy efficiency in the context of a wider urban development plan, etc.

The JESSICA (Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas) initiative is an instrument focused on a more efficient utilisation of EU Structural Funds, which aims to create revolving funds investing in sustainable urban development projects. JESSICA is one of the Cohesion Policy Joint Initiatives that were developed by the European Commission to contribute to making EU Cohesion Policy more efficient and sustainable. This initiative is managed by the European Investment Bank (EIB).