Burduja. Cities, growth engines in an economy

Any developed economy of the world is an urban economy and if there are growth engines in an economy, these are the cities, said on Tuesday the ‘Smart City Industry Awards’ (SCIA) 2025, Energy Minister Sebastian Burduja.

‘The theory of the World Bank, validated full of practice, is that there is no economic development without urban development. Any developed economy of the world is an urban economy and if there are growth engines in an economy, these are cities. And if there are dynamic cities, they must be smart cities, « Burduja said.

He stressed that from the energy perspective he endeavored to support the local authorities. ‘A very dear call is the one for the production of green energy for public institutions. We obtained from the Fund for modernizing free money, European money, 700 million euros. I exceeded in signed contracts 2.3 billion lei, somewhere in 325 megawatts. The largest project is in Iași – nine megawatts – but there are projects that will be done by the end of the year or within 12 months and will provide green energy for the own consumption of public institutions, communities, « added the head of energy.

According to the quoted source, a new call for green energy production for public institutions will be launched by the end of the year, which will have eligible part.

‘I think it’s an example of good practice. The call was so attractive that, by the end of the year, if everything is going well, we will launch a new call and this time we will make the storage and the beneficiaries have told us we have photovoltaic panels, but we need batteries and this will do, « said the Minister of Energy.

Another project mentioned by Burduja is ‘urban-up’ intended for the associations of owners for the installation of photovoltaic panels on blocks.

‘Another important project is’ Urban-up’, in the mirror with electric-up, you probably know it. ‘Urban-up’ is for the Association of Laders in the budget of the Ministry of Energy, somewhere at 100 million lei and thus we will allow the tenants associations to mount photovoltaic panels together with storage batteries and practically support their energy costs’, Sebastian Burduja said.

ARSC, in partnership with the Government of Romania, through the General Secretariat of the Government – the Department for Sustainable Development, organizes on Tuesday the new edition of the SCIA Gala and the conference with the theme ‘City of the future: technology, data and efficient administration’.