The government approved the New Green Savings, subsidies will be 27 billion

Minister Podivínský: "Every invested crown will bring back at least three additional crowns into our economy."

Prague - The government today approved the New Green Savings program, which is expected to provide subsidies totaling an estimated 27 billion crowns by 2020. This will smoothly continue from the program of the same name that started in August of this year. Under this program, people can apply for subsidies for the insulation of family homes. According to the Ministry of the Environment (MŽP), which presented the proposal, the program should support employment as well as savings in households.
    Prime Minister Jiří Rusnok, in resignation, considers the New Green Savings program to be exceptionally useful. "It has proven itself in the past, so we are not venturing into uncharted territory. It has positive synergies for the economy and employment,” he stated at a press conference after the government meeting.
    The MŽP expects to raise 1.2 billion crowns from emissions permits for the New Green Savings program by the end of the year. "About 15,000 family homes in the Czech Republic will be able to be comprehensively insulated in accordance with the program's conditions. The program will also create very high employment, up to 6,000 jobs, or help maintain those jobs that would have been lost in construction," said Minister of the Environment Tomáš Podivínský.
    The government approved the documentation for the New Green Savings program for the coming years and, according to Rusnok, aligned its operation with the EU funding program Jessica, since two similar programs cannot be supported by European funds. A total of 609.9 million crowns is prepared for Jessica. Aligning the programs became a core dispute between the MŽP and the Ministry of Regional Development before the elections.
    Podivínský said he agreed with the Ministry of Regional Development that panel or non-panel apartment houses and public service buildings will not be supported by the New Green Savings program until 2015. After 2015, the government will decide on their possible inclusion. Podivínský is scheduled to finalize an agreement with Minister of Regional Development František Lukl next Monday.
    "The program will bring back into our economy at least three additional crowns for every crown invested, as proven by the experience of the Green Savings Program," Podivínský added.
    Construction workers welcome the government's decision. "This is a meaningful decision; it is one of the stimulating measures. It was also one of our recommendations to the government on how to restart growth in Czech construction. Let's just hope it works out," said Václav Matyáš, president of the Association of Construction Entrepreneurs in the Czech Republic to ČTK.
    "The approval of the New Green Savings program by the government is good news. For households that did not manage to prepare their projects within the first call, as well as for small and medium-sized construction companies, which can thus better secure stable jobs and count on a certain predictability of the business environment guaranteed by the state," said Petr Holub, director of Chance for Buildings. According to him, the energy-efficient construction sector is able to effectively utilize up to 12 billion crowns in subsidies per year.
    In the previous program, according to the MŽP, 36,000 family homes and about 6,000 old apartment buildings were insulated. The MŽP estimates that every billion invested could create 2,700 jobs, thereby supporting regional small and medium-sized enterprises and entrepreneurs. Currently, 216 million crowns remain to be disbursed from the billion crowns in the New Green Savings 2013.