site.bta Socialists Allege Wrongdoings in Awarding Beach Operation Contracts

Socialists Allege Wrongdoings in Awarding Beach Operation Contracts

Sofia, January 9 (BTA) - Socialist MP Atanas Zafirov on Monday accused the outgoing government of awarding lucrative beach operation contracts to companies linked to the power-holders. The idea is to use part of the proceeds for the purposes of the expected early parliamentary elections, Zafirov told a news conference at the Bulgarian Socialist Party headquarters.

He complained that a week after the beach contracting procedure began, bidders received emails telling them that they needed to change one of the documents. In this way the bid submission timeframe, which was not long in the first place, was cut even shorter, from 30 to 11 days.

Some of the bidders admitted to the procedure for the Pomorie North Beach did not have all necessary documents, while other bidders were removed because they had said they would charge zero leva for beach umbrellas and chairs, which was not really a price that could be used in the bid evaluation formula, Zafirov said. Listing other alleged irregularities, he said that bid disclosure deadlines have been breached and the membership of the bid evaluation committees has not been publicized.

On December 31 the government initiated bidding procedures for some very lucrative beach concession deals after terminating the existing contracts, Zafirov said. One of these deals is for Sunny Beach North, he noted. According to Zafirov, the outcome of the bidding process has been predetermined.

Tourism Minister Nikolina Angelkova responded by saying that the Socialists have misrepresented the facts and this is part of their preparations for the parliamentary election campaign. Angelkova said that the outgoing government wanted to launch rental or concession procedures for 34 beaches in order to ensure that the next tourist summer season will be successful. She said the old contracts on these beaches have expired. Many of the procedures will be completed by the caretaker government which will replace the current one, Angelkova said.

She wondered how the Socialists had obtained such confidential information about the procedures. The law says that this kind of information may not be disclosed until after the Council of Ministers selects the beach concessionaires, she argued.

Commenting on the case of Sunny Beach North, the Tourism Minister noted that the contract was terminated due to systemic wrongdoings on the part of the concessionaire. The concession contract will now be replaced by a rent contract.

The concessionaires for part of the eight beaches for which procedures are underway will be selected by the Council of Ministers in a matter of days, Angelkova said. In some cases there is only one bidder, but in other cases there are between two and nine bidders. Bourgas North has attracted the greatest interest, she said.