site.btaPM Glavchev: Site Clearance for National Children's Hospital Could Be Accelerated by 2 Months

Construction site clearance for the National Children's Hospital can be accelerated by two months, caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev said during a Sunday working meeting at the Council of Ministers with the participation of caretaker Minister of Health Galya Kondeva, caretaker Regional Development and Public Works Minister Violeta Koritarova and experts from both ministries, the government press service said. 

The works can be carried out within five months instead of seven, according to Glavchev. Discussions on the subject are also underway with the project's contractor. 

Shortening the timeframe will be due to maximum workload during the summer months. The aim is to carry out the main work of removing the old buildings on on the site and clearing it during the summer season so that hard work can be completed by winter, even before a free assessment by the European Investment Bank, according to the announcement. 

The assessment is expected to be released in early 2025 and will show what the structure, wards and capacity of the National Children's Hospital should be. 

Glavchev has instructed the Health Ministry to urgently look into the possibility of fast-tracking this grant assessment as well, even at the cost of government funding. 

Traffic regulation in relation to the removal of the rubble from the site will be clarified with the Interior Ministry and Sofia Municipality, Glavchev added. In parallel, work is being carried out on the completion of the Sofia ring road, from where the necessary transport connection for the hospital complex is planned.

Kodova told Nova TV earlier on Sunday that in about two or two and a half years there will be a road to the site for the new children's hospital. 

The Regional Development Ministry is waiting for representatives of Sofia Municipality to join a dedicated group working on the project, the minister said. 

She said the ministry is cutting down on internal timelines to move documentation on the construction. There is a lot of work on demolishing an old building and clearing the site, Koritarova said, but she did not commit to a deadline for the completion of the construction.

On Saturday (June 1), Glavchev, Kondova and Koritarova gave the start to the clearing of the site for the construction of the National Children's Hospital. 

The caretaker prime minister said there were no appeals and construction of the hospital would begin after the site was cleared and the buildings there demolished. There are no obstacles to the construction of the National Children's Hospital, Glavchev said.