Intervention SRD11 - Non-productive forestry investments - Call 2025

This is a support measure for forest owners for the improvement and creation of infrastructure serving the multifunctional use of the forest. The aid consists of a contribution of 65% of the eligible expenditure for carrying out the investment.

Types of intervention allowed

(a) adjustment and/or upgrading of existing and classified forestry and forestry-pastoral roads, leading to a significant improvement of the entire road, understood as a homogeneous classified section, both in terms of transit safety and vehicle travel time, including the transition from an ordinary forestry road to a truckable forestry road. Ancillary works of short extensions (less than or equal to 300 m) of the existing road are considered adaptations;

(b) construction of a new forestry and silvopastoral road or extension, which is not short (i.e. greater than 300 m), of the existing forestry and silvopastoral road, with a length greater than 300 m

(c) adaptation and upgrading of the road surface of existing forest paths, including consolidation of related ramps, preferably using bio-engineering techniques, excluding SAT paths

(d) adaptation of existing forest yards

(e) new construction of forestry forecourts or other fixed structures for logging.

The amount of support is as follows: 65% of the eligible expenditure. The minimum amount of eligible expenditure per application is €20,000.00. The maximum amount of eligible expenditure is €250,000.00 per beneficiary.

For type a) and b) interventions, the maximum amount of eligible expenditure per application is € 120,000.00 for punctual interventions or interventions on stretches of less than or equal to one kilometre; for stretches of more than one kilometre, the maximum limit is € 120,000.00 per kilometre, applied in proportion to the length of the work.

For interventions of type c), d) and e), the maximum overall limit is € 50,000.00 per beneficiary and per tender.

Commitments inherent in investment operations

The beneficiary of an investment operation undertakes to

- not to change, for a period of 5 years following the presentation of the application for the balance, the use of the works and areas subject to the intervention, except in cases duly assessed, justified and recognised by the competent Administration. In the event of transfer, the take-over is admissible only if the existing commitments are signed by the sub-entrant;

- carry out maintenance for at least 5 years to ensure that the financed infrastructure is maintained in good working order;

- in the case of forestry roads, not change classification as a forestry road for 10 years, to ensure that the financed infrastructure remains in use;

- in the case of subject applicants, comply with public procurement regulations and draw up the procurement and contract award check sheets prepared by the Paying Agency (Agenzia provinciale per i pagamenti in agricoltura - APPAG), available at https://www.provincia.tn.it;

- notify the Forestry Service in writing of the start of work before the grant is awarded at least 15 days in advance. Failure to notify the start of work within the specified timeframe may result in the initiative being deemed ineligible, if this has prevented the Forestry Service from carrying out an ex-ante check of the state of the sites and therefore the regular technical investigation.

Applications may be submitted by:

- Owners, possessors, public or private, and their associations, as well as other subjects and entities of law, public or private, and their associations, owners of the forest surface;

- Other subjects and legal entities, public or private, and their associations, identified or delegated by the owners of the forest area for the implementation of initiatives also under provincial ownership.

The application must be digitally signed by the person entitled to sign the document, otherwise it will be inadmissible.

For any assistance in accessing and enabling the portal, please contact helpdesk.srtrento@provincia.tn.it.

Conditions of eligibility of applicants

On the date of submission of the application for aid each applicant

1. is obliged to set up, update and validate annually its electronic farm file in accordance with Presidential Decree No 503/99 ss.mm. and ii. The farm file is the set of information declared by the farm, checked, verified and unambiguously ascertained through the IACS. For entities not covered by Article 1 of Presidential Decree No 503/99 et seq. the farm file must be established, at APPAG, on the basis of the beneficiary's personal data. Information on the farm file and the user guide are available on the institutional website of the Autonomous Province of Trento, at the following link: https://www.provincia.tn.it/Documenti-e-dati/Documenti-di-supporto/Manuale-del-fascicolo-aziendale-versione-1.0-APPAG;

2. must have title to or suitable availability of the land parcels or buildings subject to the intervention in order to guarantee the respect and duration of any constraints on the financed investments

3. it must not be the recipient of recoveries of contributions granted under the 2007-2013 and 2014-2022 RDPs and then withdrawn, without their repayment.

The absence of any of the above requirements determines ineligibility for support.

All the necessary requirements and the selection criteria are specified in the text of the call for applications approved by resolution of the Provincial Council no. 2050 of 13 December 2024.

The application must be submitted online by accessing the provincial agricultural information system SRTrento at https://srt.infotn.it which can also be reached from the portal https://a4g.provincia.tn.it/ by the deadline.

Access to the reserved area is allowed only to registered users, each user must first be accredited according to the procedures indicated in the manual on the SRTrento home page. The application must be digitally signed by the person entitled to sign the document, otherwise it will be inadmissible. For any assistance in accessing and enabling the portal you can helpdesk.srtrento@provincia.tn.it

Documents to be attached to the application

- Technical-economic feasibility project including estimated metric calculation;

- List of titles acquired" form (e.g. SCIA, CIL, CILA. Building permits, authorisations, opinions, nulla osta) downloadable from: https://forestefauna.provincia.tn.it/Foreste/Attivita-forestali/Contributi-allo-sviluppo-rurale-PSP-2023-2027;

- Acquired titles specified in the list above;

- Forestry report with justification of the selection scores included in the application signed by a qualified agro-forestry technician. The forestry report contains an "Investment Plan" aimed at providing useful elements for assessing the effectiveness and consistency of the project in relation to the aims of this call for proposals, also on the basis of the "Technical-economic feasibility project" referred to in the first point.

Procedure for granting or refusing the contribution

1. notification of the start of the administrative procedure and of the information required under Provincial Law 23/1992 and subsequent amendments and additions

2. verification of the documentary eligibility of all applications submitted and drawing up of the list of beneficiaries (ranking list), taking into account the priorities and scores provided for in this notice. Applications shall be considered ineligible if they do not meet the eligibility conditions of the applicants or are not accompanied by an Investment Plan in accordance with the eligibility criteria of the investment operations. Applications are also considered ineligible if they do not reach the minimum score required by the notice;

3. approval, through a determination by the manager of the Forestry Service, of a ranking list of applications within 90 days from the deadline for submitting applications, with the simultaneous conclusion of the administrative procedure pursuant to Provincial Law 23/1992 and subsequent amendments and integrations. The measure will include a list of all the applications submitted, divided into eligible applications with relative points (ranking list) and applications found to be ineligible. Eligible applications will be divided into

a. eligible applications potentially eligible for funding based on the allocation provided in the notice;

b. eligible applications in reserve (list aimed at recovering possible reductions in expenditure established in the subsequent technical verification phase and obtained following the order of the ranking list and up to a maximum value of 20% of the allocation provided for in the call)

c. eligible applications not to be subject to technical scrutiny.

The ranking list remains valid until the date of approval of a possible further call for applications on the SRD11 intervention and in any case for no more than 12 months from the date of approval of the ranking list;

4. notification to the applicant of the position of its application in the list approved by the measure referred to in the previous point

5. granting of the grant following the conclusion of the technical investigation (within 90 days starting from the day after the date of adoption of the decision approving the ranking list), subject to the drafting of the "Report of the initial administrative technical-economic assessment" by the technical officer in charge, which defines the extent and type of eligible expenditure and the relevant grant. The grant decision may impose requirements to be fulfilled before payment. The amount allocated may in no case exceed the amount indicated in the eligibility list. The technical appraisal is started for potentially eligible applications and for reserve eligible applications. If, during the period of validity of the eligibility list, the Provincial Council increases the financial endowment of the call for applications in order to extend coverage to further eligible applications, the Forestry Service also proceeds with the technical appraisal for the remaining eligible applications according to the criteria indicated in point 3). Grants may be awarded on a cumulative basis, even in several stages, taking into account the approved rankings;

6. notification of the grant/denial of the contribution;

7. submission of any requests for variants and/or extensions.