Prime Minister Florin Citu: Nearly all PNRR resources, somehow related to Smart City model's community development

Prime Minister Florin Citu said on Wednesday at the online workshop "Smart City: Micromobility, a necessity for the sustainable development of cities", that much of the resources in the PNRR (National Recovery and Resilience Plan) have to do with the development of the communities in a new model of Smart City, pointing out that the development plans of the cities in the coming period will define how Romania will develop.

"Micromobility is a new concept and complements the digitisation, of what the central administration is already trying to do, but somehow we have to connect them, because usually the decision regarding the solutions to solve urban congestion comes from the local authorities and somehow we have to stick them together. (...) The way I see it, this debate occurs at a good time, considering also the National Recovery and Resilience Plan. That's where resources are allocated and, mark my words, pretty much all the resources in that recovery and resilience plan have something to do with community development in a new model, this Smart City. We have resources allocated for mobility, for the digitisation of cities, for greening and so on. (...) The way in which we develop the cities in the next period or the development plans of the cities in the next period will define how we develop Romania, this society, how we develop urban areas, how we draw resources," Florin Citu said.

The Prime Minister added that, in a certain way, it is all about "this new way of living in a city where you have no pollution, but at the same time have access to information quickly and not waste any more time" and stressed that, in the short term, the transfer to "a green economy, to micromobility" may not be "very cheap", agerpres reports.