— Every business you run involves certain costs and you need to be prepared to finance your business. I ran my own business for twenty-something years and I also had to protect my company against situations such as those we currently face. What I always mentioned to contractors at these meetings and said that in a situation when the company is able to complete 100 investments in a yearwill not take on the PLN 400 investment itself because it knows that it is unable to do it and will implement it for four years so that it loses its brand – said Robert Gajda in Onet Rano Finansowo when asked what he would say to entrepreneurs waiting for their money after the modernization.
Delays in Clean Air
As Gajda emphasizes, delays in payments do not result from the fund's bad will, but from the overload of the system of provincial branches, which “have to accept any number of applications, regardless of their capabilities.” — If someone was able to process a hundred investments a year and received four hundred, it cannot be done without extending the deadlines. All provincial funds increased employment by 30-40 percent, but it is still impossible to speed up everything overnight, he points out.
In the opinion of the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management, the main source of misunderstandings with contractors are discrepancies in the interpretation of the rules regarding co-financing. In the interview, Gajda explains that the amounts specified in the contracts are maximum limits, not guaranteed rates. — Some contractors decided that each order should be worth PLN 136,000. PLN regardless of the area and technology. Meanwhile, the contract clearly states that it is an amount “up to” a specific level, and not a fixed value, he explains.
According to the fund, it was also necessary to fight gross abuses. — We cannot pretend that an invoice for PLN 40,000 for a door that costs less than PLN 3,000 in a store is a rational expense. These are not isolated cases, says Gajda.
The representative of the National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management also assures that the verification of investment implementation costs is not aimed at “cutting” funds, but at adapting them to actual market rates. — Margins have simply dropped. Contractors were used to higher wages, but today the prices of services and materials are also lower. This move contributed to the rationalization of the system, he adds.
Fewer applications, but higher quality
The new version of the program assumes stricter criteria and validation of forms. — In the previous version, it was possible to enter incomplete applications, so-called “ghosts”. Now the system makes it impossible. Thanks to this, we have fewer, but better quality applications – approximately 46,000 full applications and 24,000. in draft versions, Gajda specifies.
Clean Air has delays in payments
|
PhotoDictionary/Shutterstock
He also emphasizes that currently each investment is preceded by energy audits, which indicate the actual needs of the building, which reduces the risk of unnecessary expenses. — We are putting an end to “horror bills” and unnecessary installations that serve mainly contractors' profits. The investments are intended to reflect the actual energy needs of homes, says a representative of the fund.
Context of the dispute
The “Clean Air” program is one of the largest modernization projects in Poland – its goal is the thermal modernization of houses and the replacement of heat sources. The assumption covers 2.5 million single-family buildings, with many applications concerning households with the lowest incomes.
In recent months, criticism from contractors has been increasing, who complain about delays in payments and reductions in funding amounts. Some of the cases were brought to the prosecutor's office. The National Fund for Environmental Protection and Water Management denies the allegations, explaining that control activities are necessary to eliminate unfair practices from the program and secure public funds.
— It's not about punishing anyone. It's about restoring trust in a program that is supposed to serve citizens and not be a source of abuse, sums up Robert Gajda.
Onet Morning. Financially
“Onet Rano. Finansowo” is a weekly program in which Business Insider journalists talk to invited experts from the world of business and politics about current events and issues related to the Polish economy, public finances and the impact of politics on the wallets of every Pole.
The program can be watched every Wednesday at 10 on the main page of the Onet portal, and from 11 as a podcast on Onet Audio.
