Novogrudok and Oshmyany may join the Covenant of Mayors

July 10, Vitebsk / Diana Kurilo - BELTA /. Novogrudok and Oshmyany may join the Covenant of Mayors. The cities expressed their interest in this at the international conference "From an energy-saving house to an energy-efficient city!", which concluded in Polotsk, Ivan Shchedrenok, secretary of the project "SURE: Sustainable energy development in cities of the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument region – on the way to the Covenant of Mayors", told a BELTA correspondent. Novogrudok and Oshmyany are studying the possibility of participating in the European initiative using Polotsk's experience. It was the first Belarusian city to join the Covenant of Mayors and undertook to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by at least 20% by 2020, increase the share of alternative energy sources to 20%, and improve energy efficiency by 20%. At the conference, Polotsk residents shared their experience in preparing to join the Covenant of Mayors and developing a Sustainable Energy Development Plan. In addition, participants discussed the prospects for the participation of cities in Belarus and the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) region in the Covenant of Mayors, as well as opportunities for cooperation in energy saving. The conference, which was the final event of the EU SURE project in Belarus, was attended by representatives of cities from Belarus, Germany, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, and Georgia. The project "SURE: Sustainable energy development in cities of the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument region – on the way to the Covenant of Mayors" was implemented within the EU CIUDAD program. The project was designed for 30 months, and its budget was about 790 thousand euros. The project contributed to the sustainable energy development in two cities of the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) – Polotsk (Belarus) and Salé (Morocco) – by joining the Covenant of Mayors and undertaking to implement the EU strategy known as "20-20-20". The goal of the strategy is to reduce CO2 emissions by 20%, increase the share of alternative energy sources to 20%, and reduce energy consumption by 20% by 2020. The project partners included the administration of the city of Friedrichshafen, the administration of the city of Murcia, the Polotsk City Executive Committee, the administration of the city of Salé, and the Mediterranean Commission of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (France). Polotsk has begun the practical implementation of the "20-20-20" strategy. On the central avenue, 75 energy-saving lamps of Belarusian production have been installed to replace outdated ones, which will save up to 30% of energy and do not contain harmful mercury-containing substances, are vibration-resistant, and are electrically and explosion-proof. The lighting replacement cost 42 thousand euros and was a pilot project of the Sustainable Energy Development Plan approved by the Polotsk City Executive Committee, which was developed within the framework of the SURE project. By the end of 2013, Polotsk also plans to develop a sustainable urban mobility plan. It will combine bicycle paths, parking spaces, and interchanges into a single system, and define zones without vehicle traffic to minimize environmental impact. -0-