Yordanka Fandakova, Mayor of Sofia Municipality: We are upgrading the trolley-bus fleet entirely

- Mrs. Fandakova, several days ago, you announced that the bank accounts of the Municipality of Sofia held in 31 banks and 1,250 municipal stocks of the Central Sofia Market Hall have been blocked by a private enforcement agent because of a real estate of 4,585 sq m located between the G. Rakovska St. and Kozlodui St., which was provided for expropriation due to the construction of the new route via the General Danail Nikolaev Blvd. How is this case advancing?
- The latest decision of the Administrative Court, Sofia City ruled that the municipal bank accounts cannot be blocked. This fact eased us a bit but we continue to follow the development of the case. I also approached all the institutions because it comes down to a huge amount of resources. In contrast to the initial property tax assessment of BGN 4.4 mln made by an external tax assessor, in 2009, the Court ruled a higher tax assessment of BGN 8.5 mln. The latter value is almost double the initial amount of BGN 4, which could be utilised for the construction of two kindergartens. We support observance of the law and the protection of private interests when it concerns the expropriation of property but, in this case, it comes down to ill-intentioned interests aimed at the racketeering of Sofia Municipality. I repeat again, all institutions have been approached and I believe that the interests of Sofia citizens will be protected.

- Last week, you signed a contract for financing the first-phase construction of the waste-processing plant. Can you say when you will launch this project?
- The installation consists of several facilities. We signed the contract for the first-phase funding of the project, which pertains to the construction of several components involving a new waste landfill in the Sadinata area along with the construction of composting installations for non-hazardous waste-processing and waste-separation facilities. This project phase also includes the refunding of the BGN 19 mln spent by the Sofia Municipality on the construction of supporting infrastructure, which has already been completed. The ready infrastructure covers both the composting site and the site of the future landfill. This contract allows us to launch the repository's construction, for which a contractor has already been selected and a construction supervisor has been appointed. Soon, we will announce the tender procedure for the selection of a contractor for the construction of both waste-composting sites. I will only remind our readers that, several months ago, I stopped that tender procedure because there was only one company which initially met the tender terms and conditions but, ultimately, it offered a very high construction price. Once we select a contractor, I expect the construction works to start quickly. We are also expecting the analysis on the second-phase construction of the waste-treatment facility to be completed within a month. Afterwards, we will submit the application form. In fact, we received all guarantees that it will be reviewed and approved by the end of the year. I emphasise that the first-phase decision on the project stated that it is inextricably linked with the second-phase construction. The EC (European Commission) did not allocate a bit over €80 mln by mere coincidence, without being sure that this project will be entirely implemented in order to be effective, environmentally friendly and strictly monitored in order for abuses to be prevented.

- These days, the Chief Architect of Sofia, Petar Dikov announced that a project was underway for the division of Sofia into three zones. Please, tell us something about this.
- This project is financed under OP Regional Development. It refers to an integrated plan for Urban Regeneration and Development. The planning process is very important. And when we have integrated development plans, this gives us an exceptional advantage when applying for EU-funded projects. Actually, the project mentioned by Architect Dikov is focused on the period 2014-2020. In fact, three project zones were outlined. The first is of predominantly social nature concerning mostly residential areas. The second zone relates to the potential for economic development of technology parks and companies. The third project aspect has public functions since it pertains to the city centre. When talking about the city centre, for example, we are actually concluding that everything related to the public infrastructure should be considered as inextricably interlinked.

- Will Sofia residents actually feel this integrated approach mentioned by you?
- We have already drafted a project for public transport modernisation, for instance. Within 10 days, I will probably sign a contract under this project. We have already signed a contract for co-financing with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. It concerns mainly aiding the electric transport system. Under this project, a new tramway line will be constructed. Furthermore, the tramway lines along Bulgaria Blvd. will be entirely renovated. The project also involves the delivery of 50 new trolley buses, which will upgrade almost a 100% the trolley-bus fleet. Besides, last year, 30 brand new trolley buses were delivered as well. I give this example because at the project's defence, we proved that we do not select at random a tramway line for reconstruction since each part of the transport network is connected with the entire city's transport system. I believe that the integrated approach mentioned above will help us a lot in this renovation process.

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