site.btaSocialists Urge Audit Office to Check Sofia Airport

Socialists Urge Audit Office to Check Sofia Airport

Sofia, July 7 (BTA) - The parliamentary group of BSP-Left Bulgaria said on Thursday they will urge the National Assembly to require the National Audit Office to check Sofia Airport, whose profits and cost-effectiveness are seen as suspiciously low. The group's spokesman Zhelyo Boichev told a news briefing that the government has invested hundreds of millions of leva in upgrading Sofia Airport over the last few years, but its management has recently reported very disturbing financial results.

In 2015, its turnover was 118 million leva, but its profit was a mere 5.6 million leva. This compares with a profit of 22 million leva in 2007 and 30 million leva in 2008, Boichev said. Even in the crisis years of 2009 and 2010, the annual profit was around 15 million leva. On the other hand, he said, the management has reported a considerable increase in the number of flights and passengers and the amount of cargo and mail handled by Sofia Airport.

The Socialist-led group are also concerned about the nearly 50 million leva in outstanding liabilities which operators owe to the airport. The management has done practically nothing to collect that debt, Boichev said.

The group's Georgi Svilenski said that just two months before the planned concession for Sofia Airport it is unacceptable to launch public procurement procedures to the amount of 2.2 million leva for a period of three years.

Another member of BSP-Left Bulgaria, Roumen Gechev, who is Deputy Chairman of the Budget and Finance Committee, noted that the government has asked for a down payment of 600 million leva for the future 30-year concession for the airport, which means that it wants 20 million leva for every year of the concession. This implies that the government expects the airport to earn at least 20 million leva in annual profit, which seems strange, given the current profit of just over 5 million leva.