site.btaSofia Mayor Warns of Risk for Future of Public Transport Service

The future of Sofia's city bus company Stolichen Avtotransport was one of the main topics at Sofia Municipal Council’s meeting on Thursday. Ahead of the debate, Sofia Mayor Vassil Terziev said that since Wednesday, the accounts of Stolichen Avtotransport EAD have been frozen. Terziev warned that if this company stops working, Sofia's public transport will also stop. The news briefing was also attended by Deputy Sofia Mayor for Finance Ivan Vasilev, as well as by Continue the Change-Democratic Bulgaria (Save Sofia) municipal councillors Boris Bonev and Simeon Stavrev.

On Thursday, it was also made public that Stolichen Avtotransport EAD has accumulated BGN 20 mln liabilities over the years.

Bonev explained that the reason behind the frozen accounts was a project for renovation of a dormitory for public transport employees in the Druzhba residential quarter. According to him, the building materials for the renovation were bought at prices that were 20-30 times higher than the standard ones. The moment this became public, the Stolichen Avtotransport EAD management at the time decided to freeze the project, Bonev added.

In the past four years, neither the Sofia Municipal Council nor the Stolichen Avtotransport EAD management have lifted a finger to prevent the situation, Bonev argued. He said there was a way to act in a timely manner and renegotiate the terms of the renovation. "This is yet another bomb planted by [Sofia’s] former GERB management that has now exploded," the municipal councillor further said.