9 BIDDERS HOPE TO BEGIN BUILDING SOFIA WASTE PLANT BY 2011

9 BIDDERS HOPE TO BEGIN BUILDING SOFIA WASTE PLANT BY 2011

The construction of the much anticipated waste processing plant near Sofia is slated to begin by the end of 2010.

The news was announced Monday by Sofia’s City Hall at the official opening of the offers of the 9 candidates who took part in the public tender for the plant’s construction.

The selection procedure will conclude in June-July and the beginning of the construction by the year’s end will depend on the lack of appeals on the part of the bidders and the preparation of a working project for the installations.

The construction must be completed in two years, meaning the plant could start functioning by the middle of 2012. The preliminary schedule provided a 2011 deadline and choice of the company to build it in 2009, but the delay is due to a prolonged public tender to select a construction control company, which is yet to be concluded.

In the next 5 months the Committee will rank the offers by verifying the companies’ documentation and evaluating their technology proposals. The price offers will be opened last while they will have equal importance with the management expenses, according to the City Hall.

The construction cost is estimated at BGN 229 M. The 9 companies, wishing to construct the plant near the village of Yana, adjacent to Sofia, are joint Bulgarian and foreign firms from Austria, Germany, Greece, Belgium, Poland, Spain and Italy because one of the requirements is that the candidates have experience in constructing similar installations.

The only purely Bulgarian company is “Holding Patishta” controlled by one of the richest Bulgarians, Vasil Bozhkov. They stated they will use subcontractors with such experience, which is acceptable by the City Hall.