Lviv is the first regional centre to join the EECU Revolving Fund of Cities program
photo: Volkan Vardar
On 2 November, at its regular session, Lviv City Council decided to join the city's financial assistance programme, the Revolving Fund of EECU Cities.
The total Lviv deposit will amount to UAH 1 million.
Svyatoslav Pavliuk, EECU Executive Director, states that Lviv's accession to the EECU Revolving Fund of Cities was an important step for both the RFC and the city of Lviv. After all, it is the first city regional centre to join the programme as well as the largest city participating in the Fund at the moment.
"We hope that the RFC mechanism will quickly demonstrate its effectiveness in launching energy efficiency programmes and will help to attract additional funding from the National Energy Efficiency Fund for thermal modernisation of residential buildings in Lviv, and will help to implement measures that this Fund may not support. We believe that this decision of the Lviv City Council will also serve as a good example for other regional centres of Ukraine," - commented Sviatoslav Pavliuk.
Taras Repytskyi, a civic activist and a politician of the Lviv City Council who promoted the decision to join the RFC, shared why the Revolving Fund programme was of interest to the City Council.
"This is a revolving financial assistance tool that is interest-free and does not require co-financing from residents. Therefore, the OSMD that will apply to the Lviv City Council commission will be able to use these funds to quickly overcome the challenges they face in the context of preparing for the heating season or afterwards. We have also added to the decision of the Lviv City Council and the Housing and Communal Services Department the possibility to spend funds on inclusiveness, barrier-free accessibility and affordability of OSMD. That is, to direct them to those things that are important in our new reality."
Taras Repytskyi added that together with the Department of Housing and Infrastructure of Lviv City Council and the Lviv Resource Centre for OSMD, they had been working on the idea of joining the RFC programme for about two months. After making some changes to meet the interests of OSMD and the city council, they managed to vote in favour of the decision on 2 November. Thanks to the support of the EECU consultants all this was done quickly.
"After the resolution is signed by the mayor, together with the department we will start forming a commission and then launch the [RFC] mechanism in the near future. I hope that OSMD will apply for this programme and return the funds on time so that the Fund remains an effective tool. In this case, next year we could increase the deposit amount and further expand the capabilities of this Fund." - said Taras Repytskyi.