Petar Dikov, Sofia's Chief Architect: We will regulate the sticking of posters for the autumn elections

- Architect Dikov, last week you submitted a proposal to the Sofia Municipal Council (SMC), which will specify the places where political parties will be able to post their agitation materials for the upcoming autumn elections. Would you tell us more about this project?
- There will be overall 2,400 specialised poster boards for the forthcoming elections in Sofia. This is a well-established world practice. I am speaking not only of boards for election posters, but for all kinds of theatrical ones, of event posters, of everything being advertised in this way. In contrast to the paid advertisements posted on billboards, for example, or on the so-called pisas and rocket-type megaboards, the ads for incidental events must be pasted somewhere in order for the citizens to see them. In the civilised countries, these posters are stuck only on strictly defined places.

- What happened with the tender for outdoor advertising in Sofia?
- The tender for outdoor advertising is currently underway. The final deadline for submission of documents is June 9-10. In fact, an appeal was lodged against the SMC decision for the launching of the contest procedure. However, I think that we will be able to tackle the problem and I hope that we will find a solution on the matter.

- During the civil discussions on the changes in the spatial plans of the Sofia districts, you promised the citizens that you would consider their opinion and if they opposed a given construction project somewhere, you would conform with this. Is this really true?
- Yes, and the spatial plans have already been redrawn up. On Tuesday (editorial note - tomorrow) they will be reviewed by an expert council and announced for a second time. That is, the procedure will start all over again from a civil discussion. A very large percentage of the claims and demands of the citizens are reflected in the new territorial plans as I promised.

- Do you still plan to make Vitosha bul. a 100% pedestrian zone by suspending the tram traffic on it?
- Yes, I do. We should make a decision on that matter by September 2012 when the second metro line will be launched. The decision, however, will depend largely on our future project with respect to the third metro diameter.

- Recently, Finance Minister Simeon Djankov said the GERB (Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party) government was ready to grant BGN 140 mln for the construction of an entirely new stadium in the Sofia capital or for a major repair of an already existing one. Which is the best option in your opinion?
- Currently, there are 7 stadiums in Sofia - Vassil Levski National Stadium, Bulgarian Army Stadium, Georgi Asparuhov Stadium, Lokomotiv Stadium, Slavia Stadium, Septemvri Stadium and Academic Stadium. All of them are in a deplorable state, excluding the Vassil Levski Stadium which is in somewhat acceptable condition, but after 2013 it will also no longer comply to the UEFA requirements for international matches. There are two alternatives. The first refers to the construction of a completely new stadium at a new location, while the other option pertains to the reconstruction of the already existing sports facilities.

My opinion is that the best option for the Bulgarian state and the sport clubs, as well as for Sofia, is two of the club stadiums to be reconstructed and two club teams plus our national team to play on each of them. However, this depends on the will of the clubs, the Bulgarian Sports Federation and the fans. There should be a constant activity on every modern stadium, not only during football games. There must be some business bringing profit. This is the global tendency and we must first realise the need to introduce this world practice in order to maintain nice stadiums. I hope that an agreement will be reached and we will create exactly two or three modern stadiums. In fact, the rest must become playgrounds for mass sports.

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