The total amount requested is 856 million lei. On the new list of buildings that will be seismically rehabilitated are 15 educational institutions, 8 administrative buildings, 3 socio-cultural buildings, 2 health units and 2 housing blocks.
The buildings are from Bucharest, Argeș, Botoșani, Dolj, Ialomița, Iași, Sibiu, Teleorman, Tulcea and Vaslui, and they are added to the 50 buildings selected in the first phase of the project. As for the two blocks in Bucharest selected to be seismically strengthened, they are located in Sector 3 (French street no. 9) and Sector 5 (Panduri Street no. 36). The works in the current stage of the rehabilitation plan are valued at 738 million lei. Once the financing contracts with the beneficiaries are concluded, the second phase of the project, the public procurement procedures, will begin, and then the consolidation works will begin.
The Ministry of Development runs the National Program for the consolidation of buildings with high seismic risk, which, for the year 2023, has an allocated budget of 200 million lei in budgetary credits and 500 million lei in commitment credits. The financing is 100%, and the tenants of the consolidated buildings and the local authorities will not have to return the money.
Increase the number of evaluators
To meet the high demand for seismic expertise, the Ministry of Development will organize a new professional certification exam for technical experts and project verifiers, as well as for new seismic safety experts. Thus, between June 26-30, 2023, the Ministry of Development will organize a new technical-professional attestation session and the exams, of the test-grid type and without an oral test, will be held with the support of specialized universities. According to the ministry, registrations for taking the exams are carried out exclusively online, between April 3 and May 4, 2023, in the portal created by the MDLPA for this purpose (the Ministry of Development also organized, in December 2021 and July 2022, two other attestation sessions , following which 144 technical experts and 772 project verifiers were certified in all technical-professional attestation fields, of which 24 technical experts in mechanical resistance and stability for civil, industrial and agricultural constructions, the fields related to seismic safety . In the counties most exposed to seismic risk in Romania, there are very few experts in this field or none at all. For example, in Gorj county, affected by earthquakes last month, only one technical expert is registered, as well as in Vrancea county, which registered an earthquake of magnitude 4.1, or in Buzău county. In the counties of Bistrita-Năsăud, Ialomița, Giurgiu, Mehedinți, Olt, Teleorman and Vaslui, n u there is no certified technical expert.
Other sources of funding
According to the Ministry of Development, between January 3 and February 20, the call for projects was opened for the National Program for the consolidation of buildings with high seismic risk, following which funding requests were submitted for the seismic consolidation of 366 buildings. In addition to the buildings that will be included in this program, the Ministry of Development is also financing the rehabilitation of 251 buildings through the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), and another 57 buildings will be rehabilitated through the National Investment Company.
Legislative changes to expedite the work
Recently, the executive approved new regulations to reduce the seismic risk of buildings at the proposal of the Ministry of Development. The regulations amending the law in force provide for their consolidation with the consent of the majority of the owners. The same provision will apply to owners who are not members of owners’ associations. Until now, the unanimous consent of all owners was needed, a fact that prevented the consolidation of some buildings, according to the normative act that is now awaiting a vote in Parliament. Also, with a view to prioritizing seismic strengthening investments, the new regulations also aim to speed up the activities of rapid visual assessment of buildings, in order to obtain an overview of the seismic vulnerability of buildings. In this regard, the Government decided to establish clear deadlines for the rapid visual assessment of buildings, which will be followed, if necessary, by expertise. Thus, hospitals, schools, kindergartens, high schools, nurseries and all buildings that are educational institutions will be visually evaluated as an emergency. This procedure must be started by 1 January 2024 at the latest and completed by 1 June next year at the latest. The other public buildings have the same deadlines. In the case of apartment buildings, the deadline for the start of the rapid assessment is January 1, 2025, and it must be completed by June 1, 2026.
The seismic design code has been modified
In the context of the recent earthquakes in the Oltenia area, which was not considered an area with high seismic risk, it was considered necessary to expand the criteria for enrollment in the National Building Consolidation Program. Thus, the peak value of the ground acceleration for earthquake design, according to the zoning map of the territory of Romania in the Seismic Design Code P100-1, greater than or equal to 0.20 g, is reduced to the value of 0.15 g. In these conditions, they will be able to apply for financing for the consolidation of buildings with seismic and local risk
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