Spirit repealed a call for restructuring of coal regions

The SPIRIT Agency will today publish in the Official Journal a resolution on the annulment of a public tender for the promotion of investments for economic restructuring in the Zasavski and Savinja-Šalek coal regions. The new public tender is expected to be prepared within three months, Spirit said.

The annulment of the tender is the result of the Minister's call Matjaz Hanon the basis of which the Ministry of Cohesion and Regional Development changed the decision on support, which is the basis for the implementation of a public tender funded from European cohesion funds, Spirit said.

Spirit approved € 52.5 million from the Fair Transition Fund for the Savinja-Šalek coal region for 15 companies and EUR 30.5 million to nine Zasavs. Because alleged irregularities arose in the call, Han ordered control over the distribution of money, and the call is also being investigated by criminals. Namely, Spirit announced to the prosecution suspicion of committing the crime. In the mentioned call, the most money – € 20 million – was awarded to the very small companies Vonpharma SI and Vital Qi, who have the same founder Tade Von Horvatha, who transferred one company to another company just before the call, thus deleting the connection.

Due to the disputed call, the director of Spirita also resigned Rok Capl, The agency is managed by the VD Director Tamara Zajec Balažič. She said: “We will take various measures at the agency to establish an environment that will allow greater transparency in the use of public funds. In doing so, we will raise our business and trust in the work of the Agency to a higher level and ensure that public funding procedures will be carried out in a transparent, fair and economical way. « 

Han, meanwhile, is on the sidelines of the opening of a new school sports hall and outdoor playgrounds at the Anton Aškerc Elementary School Rimske Toplice, according to the STA, reported that they will prepare new tender conditions in a week or 14 days and then present them to regional development agencies in the Zasavje and Savinja-Šalek region. The desire is to publish a new call as soon as possible, which will allow greater transparency and lead to the final goal of new quality employment in both coal regions, he said.

Businesses are disappointed

By repealing the tender, the uncertainty for companies Spirit has selected for the recipients of funds, such as Gorenje, Skitti, Dewesoft, Eti. In the latter, they have already expressed a deep disappointment to cancel the call. The ETI Group has applied for the call for six projects, totaling almost EUR 28.5 million of eligible costs, and SPIRIT granted them EUR 9.4 million in the now repealed call. They wrote that they had received 99 out of 100 possible points and committed themselves to raising value added and opening new, including highly qualified jobs in the company, which would bring benefits to the economy and people in the coming years and accelerate the development of the entire region. The company points out that the delay in the publication of the now repealed call was a major challenge for companies that face competition in the market on a daily basis. However, for the call for proposals, Eti is now announcing review of business plans, limiting the volume of investments and extending the timetable. In their estimation, other companies that have been out of co -financing will also act, which will adversely affect the growth of the region.

On the other hand, the repeat of the tender brings the opportunity to get money that has not been selected for the first time.