AN additional 19.76 million leva would be earmarked to help flood-hit regions, Deputy Minister and Minister for Disaster Management Emel Etem said at a Cabinet meeting on September 8.
Defence Minister Vesselin Bliznakov said on September 11 in Karlovo that the army would cancel its Phoenix Rescue Operation to aid flood-hit areas if the Government did not reimburse funds the army had already spent on it.
Ihtiman, one of the worst-hit cities this summer, had received only one million of the five million leva it needed to recover, mayor Margarita Petkova said on September 13.
Etem presented a report at the Cabinet meeting, saying that three million leva would be needed for building new wooden prefabricated houses for homeless victims of summer floods.
Only 47 of the 258 private homes destroyed by floods have been rebuilt, leaving 211 families facing homelessness this coming winter, Etem said. “We will do all that is necessary to provide shelter to all needy people.”
The report also said each house would cost close to 3000 leva a sq m. Etem said that government funding would contribute only to wooden parts of houses, but not concrete platforms, electricity systems and plumbing.
The municipality would own the houses, each of which would be 33 sq m, she said. Residents would pay rent for using the houses and people who had lost their homes because of the floods would receive preferential treatment.
Municipalities would each decide, individually, when they would start building homes, Etem said, but the Government required that all homeless people would find shelter before winter. Funds would come from public campaigns and the budget.
So far, 1.8 million leva has been given, she said. Eighty of these rental houses had been built and another 120 would be finished soon.
Committee officials have checked 573 sites. The Standing Committee had received 694 new requests for aid, 123 of them from municipal governments. The Civil Protection Agency and the National Association of Municipalities in Bulgaria have submitted a report on offers from manufacturers of prefabricated houses.
The committee also decided that homeless families could be relocated to army barracks owned by the Defence Ministry, though they would need to be prepared, Etem said.
The committee has also decided to limit restoration requests to 2000 leva, she said. The requests have varied from 200 to 8000 leva.
The committee was also looking at the damaged school buildings that would need to be repaired for the coming school year. Etem said the Government had set aside 21 million leva to rebuild schools.
Bliznakov said that maintaining vehicles and technical units involved in the Phoenix Rescue Operation to restore damaged infrastructure had cost the army 6.5 million leva and the Government should pay back these funds to the Defence Ministry.
“The funds were not planned in the ministry’s budget and must be compensated for,” he said.
The operation began at the request of affected municipalities last month. The army had planned to carry out the operation to the end of September, perhaps longer, weather permitting.
The operation was aimed at restoring road infrastructure, damaged bridges and the restoration of railway lines destroyed by flooding.
Petkova said that Ihtiman had so far received 300 000 leva from the committee.
City schools would open as planned on September 15 and the water in Ihtiman was drinkable, Petkova said. The municipal council had already set aside land for prefabricated houses and was awaiting further development on the project.
The mayor also said more than 70 houses in Ihtiman were unsuitable for habitation.
Floods have also brought a considerable increase in infectious disease to the city. Thirteen Roma children between three months and two years have been diagnosed with Hepatitis A. Another 24 people were diagnosed with enterocolitis, an inflammation of the intestines.
Health officials said that the rate of infections among Roma was higher, because of the minority’s “disregard for personal hygiene”.
