Titan-Linked Company Set to Collect Waste in Half of Sofia’s Districts Amid Stalled Tenders

A company associated with the Titan group is set to handle waste collection in half of Sofia’s districts, following decisions announced by the Sofia Municipality on Thursday, Radio Free Europe reported.

The firm in question is BKS Chistota, whose ownership in the past was linked to Titan International Holding. The company was the sole bidder in a tender launched in June for waste collection in six districts of the capital, and the municipality has now confirmed that it will sign a contract with it.

At the same time, BKS Chistota is part of the consortium “Titan Sofia Center 1”, which currently services another six districts. The contracts of this consortium expire on December 27, but replacement contractors have not yet been selected. To avoid a disruption, the municipality has ordered the consortium to continue operations until new procedures are completed. As a result, BKS Chistota will effectively be responsible for garbage collection in 12 out of Sofia’s 24 districts.

The situation stems from the large-scale tender launched in June, which ran into difficulties when it became clear in September that for most districts there was only one bidder. In several cases, the prices proposed were significantly higher than the ceiling set by the municipality, prompting city authorities to refuse to sign contracts with most of the candidates.

In the meantime, contracts in several districts have already expired. In Lyulin and Krasno Selo this led to a waste collection crisis in October, while Izgrev, Slatina and Poduyane faced similar issues from December 1. These areas are currently being serviced by municipal structures, including Sofekostroy and the Sofia Waste Treatment Enterprise.

Contracts for Ilinden, Nadezhda and Serdika are due to expire in early January. Although a consortium involving the Turkish company Norm Sanayi was selected, the tender results are under appeal, preventing a contract from being signed. The municipality says it is awaiting a ruling from the Commission for the Protection of Competition and is preparing measures to ensure continuity of the service.

A similar situation applies to Sredets, Lozenets, Studentski, Vazrazhdane, Oborishte and Triaditsa–Center, where contracts also end on December 27. The competitions for these districts were terminated after the only bidder proposed prices far above the predefined limits. The municipality has therefore ordered the existing contractor, the “Titan Sofia Center 1” consortium, to continue working temporarily. According to the BULSTAT register, the consortium includes BKS Chistota and Titan Service. It remains unclear whether the order will be challenged, while the city administration is also preparing annexes to extend the current contracts.

In Bankya, Vrabnitsa, Novi Iskar, Pancharevo, Iskar and Kremikovtsi, contracts also expire around the turn of the year. There too, BKS Chistota was the only bidder in the new tender, and the municipality has decided to proceed with signing a contract. Whether this decision will face appeals is not yet known.

If all decisions stand, waste collection in 12 districts of Sofia after the New Year will be carried out by BKS Chistota. The company is currently owned by Ecobul Research, but until 2015 it operated under the name Titan BKS and was directly owned by Titan International Holding, which for years was responsible for cleaning large parts of the capital.

Sofia Mayor Vasil Terziev briefly commented on the developments, saying in a press release that the approach chosen by the municipality “truly protects the interests of Sofia’s residents.”