site.btaMunicipalities Discuss Ways to Provide Basic Services in Rural Areas

Bulgarian municipalities discussed alternative solutions for providing basic services in rural areas at a plenary session of the Annual Meeting of Municipalities in the Black Sea resort Albena on Monday.

Letnitsa Mayor Krasimir Dzhonev said the municipality in North Central Bulgaria had to deal with a shortage of equipment as it does not have a fire-fighting unit and had to use the services of the towns of Lovech and Levski.

"The distance to one of our settlements is 50 km from Lovech and 30 km from Levski. Until the fire-fighters arrived at the scene, the person's property had all but burnt down," Dzhonev recalled. He said that in 2017, he took steps to supply the municipality with fire engines for a volunteer unit. Things took up from there and now there are 15 people who can respond to a fire within five minutes. "I have the entire range of equipment that can be found in a Swiss municipality," he said.

Gotse Delchev Mayor Vladimir Moskov explained how the municipality in Southwestern Bulgaria developed the municipal hospital, with the implementation of several projects for modern equipment and the hospital's rehabilitation. "We have also provided a car, by which doctors make periodic visits to small settlements," said Moskov.

Aykut Hyuseinov, Director of the Varbitsa Trans municipal enterprise, told the story of the establishment of the municipal company. The need to set it up came from the fact that operators refused to transport passengers on the grounds that it was not profitable. Three 20-seater buses were purchased for the municipal company, which was licensed for passenger transportation. A transport scheme was developed to meet the needs of local people and municipal transport officially went into operation this last February 15, servicing four lines.

The Annual Meeting of Municipalities, organized by the National Association of Municipalities of the Republic of Bulgaria, will continue until October 15. BTA is a media partner of the event.