site.btaHeating Supply in Sofia’s Druzhba 2 District to Be Cut for 7–15 Days per Household during Major Repairs

Heating supply in Sofia’s Druzhba 2 residential district will be suspended for between seven and about 15 days per household during a three-month repair project, said Petar Petrov, Executive Director of Toplofikacia Sofia EAD on Bulgarian National TV, as quoted by the capital's district heating company’s press office here on Monday. 

According to Petrov, the service will initially be stopped for the entire district for around three days while shut-off valves are installed. This will allow the rest of the work to be carried out gradually in separate groups of blocks. The area is divided into five zones, each with four to six groups, meaning heating will not be cut for all at once but only in the sections under repair.

The Director stressed that the overhaul is urgently needed due to the severely deteriorated condition of the heating network. Last winter, over 900 complaints were filed from 97 buildings in Druzhba-2, representing 81% of those affected by the project, mainly about poor heating, leaks and breakdowns.

Initial checks showed water losses of 150 tonnes per hour in the area; within four months this rose to 250 tonnes, a sharp increase that could have led to even longer outages during the current heating season. Petrov said the repairs will resolve the problem for the next 30 years and significantly improve heating quality in distant and high-lying areas such as Mladost 4, Malinova Dolina and Lozenets.

The Tsarigradski residential complex, also in the repair zone, will face only a three-day shutdown during valve installation, Petrov clarified. He added that the project is large-scale, resource-intensive and requires approval from Sofia Municipality, with parameters included in the updated business plan adopted in July.

Petrov said that the company will do its utmost to complete the works as quickly as possible.

Energy Minister Zhecho Stankov said teams from the Ministry of Energy will monitor heating pipeline repairs in Sofia’s Druzhba 2 district next week and has issued a special order to his team to be on site overseeing the works for a month or until the repairs are finished, with the goal of accelerating the process.

Meanwhile, Ombudsman Velislava Delcheva referred the matter to Parliament’s Energy Committee after receiving more than 200 complaints in a single day following the announcement of the 90-day repair.

Sofia Mayor Vasil Terziev said a working group with city councillors has been set up to prepare an external technical, financial and business audit of Toplofikacia Sofia. He stressed that thousands of families in Druzhba 2 face the “absurd situation” of being left without heating and hot water for almost three months in the middle of winter.