First Contracts for Co-financing Measures to Reduce Air Pollution Signed with Citizens

The City of Niš has had a problem with excessive ambient air pollution on its territory for many years. Private households using inefficient devices (stoves/furnaces and boilers) on solid fuel (coal, firewood, various types of waste) were recognized as the main cause of the above stated problem. For this reason, the City of Niš, in its Environmental Protection Program for 2021, envisaged measures to improve air quality based on the replacement of the mentioned inefficient existing heating devices in individual households in Niš, in private homes, with 1) more efficient pellet devices in 100 households; 2) more efficient gas devices in 40 households; 3) removal of existing heating devices and connection to the district heating system in 15 households. 17.6 million dinars are intended for cofinancing these measure for improving air qulity in the city. Niš City Mayor handed over the first contracts to the citizens who applied in the period from the beginning of June to beginning of July and satisfied criteria for subsidies intended for the transition to energy sources that do not harm health and the environment, i.e., procurement of devices for heating using pellets, gas and connecting to the district heating system. A total of 67 households will no longer use environmentally friendly fuels for heating. Citizens are practically financing 50 % of the total investment, and the other half is provided by the Ministry for Environment Protection and the City of Niš.