Prishtina, 10.01.2023 – The Minister of Economy, Artane Rizvanolli together with the Prime Minister Albin Kurti, the Minister of Finance, Labor and Transfers, Hekuran Murati, and the Minister of Local Government Administration, Elbert Krasniqi, held a coordination meeting with the Mayors of Kosovo.

Minister Rizvanolli spoke about the feasibility study for central heating in 8 municipalities, expected to be completed during this year and then the work on the heating project will begin. She asked the Mayors to start working on easing the procedures, in order for the investments in these projects to start as soon as possible.

Minister Rizvanolli thanked the Mayors for cooperation so far in various fields, in particular for the determination of new tariffs for waste disposal sites. Now with the benefit of the grant from KfW following the signing of the agreement in November 2022, the construction of new landfills will begin.

Minister Rizvanolli also thanked the municipalities, which have appointed the responsible persons to assist the citizens in applying for subsidy for the purchase of efficient energy equipment. As a result of this call, there are 8,700 beneficiaries throughout Kosovo, who have been equipped with efficient equipment, reducing their electricity costs to 70%, 851 of whom are beneficiary citizens of social assistance.

Regarding the European energy crisis, Rizvanolli said that around 95 million euros have been allocated to face this crisis, including 78 million euros for subsidizing the bills of all the citizens and businesses of the country. As for the field of energy efficiency, projects worth of 4.5 million euro have been implemented.

Minister Rizvanolli highlighted that during the last year, at the level of Kosovo, there was a decrease in energy consumption in the amount of 8% compared to the previous year. She called on local institutions to continue to be as rational as possible in the consumption of electricity, since saving is one of the main steps in dealing with the energy crisis.