Sofia City Hall Takes Over Notorious 'Spartak' Swimming Pool

Bulgarian policemen during a police operation in the Spartak swimming pool. Photo by BGNES

The Sofia City Council has decided that the City Hall should take over the management of the notorious Spartak Swimming pool.

The pool is currently owned by the Bulgarian Interior Ministry and its management was temporarily transferred to sport club "Levski."

In the report, voted by the Council on Thursday, states that the City Hall would take over the management of the sports facility under few conditions to the Interior Ministry.

The conditions are for the owner to continue paying for the insurance of the pool every year, to pay all the owed taxes and fees at once or through deferred payment, and to free the facility from contracts with third parties.

The swimming pool is supposed to be given for management through a contract for a procurement of the municipal holding "Sports Sofia." Once the contract is signed, the company will have to prepare an analysis for the condition of the complex and present a business plan for its management.

The municipal councilor from the Bulgarian Socialist Party, Georgi Kadiev, has announced that he is abstaining from supporting the report because, in his words, the municipal administration did not state the exact amount of the debts of the facility.

"The only information I have is that this year the complex owes BGN 380,000 waste tax, but it is not clear whether it owes property tax for five years, for example," Kadiev said.

According to him, the municipality will once again sign a contract without clear parameters.

"I do not understand why do we have to discuss these questions and not talk about the best management of the sports complex. It is one of the best sports facilities in Sofia and it would be best if the City Hall is managing it," said Vili Lilkov from the right-wing Democrats for Strong Bulgaria (DSB).

"The exact amount of the debts will be estimated after an audit, which will be carried out in a month, and then we will present all the data and the repayment schedule," said Sofia Deputy Mayor on finances, Minko Gerdzhikov.

He said he did not expect problems with the maintenance of the complex because until now it covered its expenses with the incomes from commercial outlets.

"We even hope to receive more revenue than what they have collected so far and to have enough for capital expenditure," Gerdzhikov said.

"By suggesting the transfer of the management to the City Hall, we tried to fully protect the interest of the municipality," Sofia mayor, Yordanka Fandakova, said.

In May, the Interior Ministry managed to reestablish ownership over the downtown Sofia sports complex and issued a notice on all firms operating in it to clear the facilities by July 24.

According to Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov, the complex was rented out and then rented again a number of times by its tenants since the early 1990s.

The facility had been, for a long time, associated with alleged ringleader Aleksei Petrov, who was arrested in February in a special police operation codenamed "Octopus."

"Spartak" is notorious for being the place where ex Interior Minister, Rumen Petkov, met with two other alleged crime bosses – Angel Hristov and Plamen Galev, aka the Galevi Brothers. The affair led to Petkov's resignation. Aleksei Petrov became a target of a failed attack on his life at the same location.

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