RIGA, Feb 18 (LETA) - At least EUR 15 million will be available to municipalities for investments in business development in degraded territories, according to the regulations prepared by the Environment Protection and Regional Development Ministry.

The ministry explained that as a result, new jobs will be created, attracting non-financial investments from business representatives.

The funding worth EUR 15.15 million is available under the new stage of the degraded territory development program of the European Regional Development Fund.

The projects may be submitted by municipalities, they may attract small and medium enterprises and representatives of other municipalities or public services providers as partners. Co-funding available for one project is EUR 100,000-5,000,000.

In the new stage, at least one of the supported activities in the budget should have at least one solution of green infrastructure or energy saving.

The ministry reported that so far good results have been achieved in degraded territory and public infrastructure development programs. In total 212 projects have been submitted, and 109 of them have been completed before 2023. As many as 1,448 new jobs have been created, attracting non-financial investments worth EUR 134.9 million, renovating degraded territories in an area of 155 hectares.