Transport Minister To Propose End to Sofia Airport Concession

Transport Minister Hristo Alexiev has proposed that the Council of Ministers stop the concession of Sofia Airport, reported BGNES.

The Minister reached this decision on the basis of an expert analysis which points out that in the situation of the current concession state interests are not protected.

Alexiev reckons that it is not appropriate to continue with the concession under the current circumstances. Another of Alexiev’s arguments is that BDZ’s problems cannot be solved at the expense of Sofia Airport – a condition under the current concession.

Alexiev explained that too much importance is being attributed to one criterion when evaluating the offers – the one-off concession remuneration of 55%. The reason is that the second Borisov cabinet decided that the revenues from the concession must be used to pay off BDZ’s debts. This is why the candidates must depose in advance a large part of the sum.

“Other concerns have been heavily disregarded – like investments in the airport – 15%, development of the airport – 25%. Let’s not speak about airport security – 5%. What does this mean – with this concession, the state obviously wants to receive easy money which will be used somewhere and it does not care about the development of the airport in spite of the fact that the concession is for a period of 35 years,” added Alexiev, cited by Focus agency.

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