site.btaUPDATED BTA Building Becomes More Accessible
The building of the Bulgarian News Agency has been modernized to become more accessible. A new elevator has been fitted to provide access for people with disabilities to the agency’s National Press Club and it was put into operation on Tuesday. The fitting of the elevator has been financed from the agency’s budget and the investment is worth a little over BGN 250,000 VAT excluded.
The event took place at the newly built parking lot which was too unveiled on Tuesday.
"The BTA building is one of the faces of Sofia and we gave a clear plan how to make it even more beautiful and accessible,” said BTA Director General Kiril Valchev.
Attending the ceremony were Labour Minister Ivanka Shalapatova, Sofia Deputy Mayor Nadezhda Bacheva, Sredets borough deputy mayor Nikolay Hristov and Lyubka Atanassova, chief coordinator of the Beautiful Bulgaria project.
On March 15 2023, the project for a new parking lot within the agency’s compound was approved under the Beautiful Bulgaria Project, part of the programme of the Labour and Social Policy Ministry. Within the project a total of 1,695 sq.m. were renovated. The project proposal was worth BGN 255,381 VAT included. Funding under the Beautiful Bulgaria Project covered 45% of the costs and the remaining 55% were covered with own funds.
"Now that we have legal parking in the agency's compound, we can afford to think about a future in which we can improve the space in front of the BTA building. I hope to do it again under the Beautiful Bulgaria programme, said Valchev. The BTA Director General said that the next plan includes cleaning up the facade of the Agency's building so that it can be illuminated in different colours to mark different occasions - a country's national holiday with its flag, international holidays and other occasions. The idea is to turn the space in front of the BTA into a meeting place with the symbols of the world. Students from the University of Forestry and the University of Architecture proposed very innovative and modern solutions to make this not like the Mini-Europe park in Brussels, with physical models, but use instead holograms. "I hope that we will be able to do such a project. For the next two years under Beautiful Bulgaria we have a very clear plan what can happen with BTA so that the face of Sofia becomes more and more beautiful," Valchev said.
He highlighted the problem with the access to public buildings in Bulgaria. "I was looking for different statistics and it turns out that we may have no idea about the exact scale of the problem in our country with old buildings, built without elevators, with public use. We don't know how many of them are without access," Valchev said. He was referring to 2022 data from the Ministry of Education which shows that over 50% of public schools are without elevators. He said it is important to check which state and municipal institutions, including schools, are without elevators and then think of a large-scale programme and a quick way to address this issue.
On June 29 2023 a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony launched the Green BTA - Face of Sofia project, whose aim is to create a more accessible and inclusive environment for the BTA employees and visitors.
Thirty electric and hybrid vehicles already help the work of BTA reporters and correspondents in Sofia and across the country, along with three charging stations.
"I am proud of what you have achieved," said Labour Minister Shalapatova. "I had the honour to attend the groundbreaking ceremony at the start of my tenure and today I am extremely proud of the result," she added.
/PP/
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