Ideas for the development of infrastructure facilities

Water supply and sewerage

A project exists, funded by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, for a procedure by tender, which will grant concession for Sofia's water supply and sewerage system. The project provides for water supply and sewerage to shift to private hands and the municipality will retain only partial interest in the future company. The project is at an advanced working stage and is expected to be put on the agenda of the Sofia Municipal Council meetings by the end of the year.

City transport

City transport is in a process of reconstruction, aimed at heightening its efficiency, reducing losses to a minimum and economizing municipal funds. Separate transport activities are currently in the process either of privatization or of being granted under concession. This process will continue. A part of the repair works will also be privatized.

Central heating

Toplofikatsiya (the Central Heating Company) practically provides central heating for two-thirds of Sofia. However, its network is constructed according to the old model of central heating, developed in the former Soviet Union, and has meanwhile become obsolescent in most countries. This is why new ways are sought to modernize the city's central heating and render it more effective. Several possibilities exist. Local heating networks could be introduced in different neighborhoods, and gas-fuelled heating could be contemplated - initially for some parts of the capital and, in a more distant perspective, for the whole city.

Cleanness

The capital's cleanness is also shifting into private hands. It is managed by a Bulgarian-German joint company, which is responsible for cleanness in the capital's central parts. Insofar as the periphery is concerned, a procedure is currently underway for concession by means of tender.

Household waste

This is a problem whose solution requires considerable funds. At the moment Sofia Municipality is looking for good offers with the respective financial support. For the time being, waste in Sofia is neither processed nor destroyed. The problem lies not only in the initially required sum of dozens of millions of dollars, but also in the introduction of separate waste collection, an unknown