site.btaDruzhba Residents Protest Three-Month Heating Outage in Sofia

Residents of Sofia’s Druzhba 2 borough blocked Tsarigradsko Shose Boulevard on Monday to protest plans to cut heating and hot water for three months, as police maintained an increased presence in the area.

Protesters reported that Sofia Municipality is planning repairs just before the start of the heating season, according to Nikolay Georgiev from the Druzhba 2 Public Council. They opposed a three-month shutdown of heating and water, argued that emergency repairs should take only a few days, and requested advance information on the timing, location, and duration of hot water outages.

Georgiev added that already last year, it became apparent that water supply in the Iskar district faced major problems. Despite continued breakdowns, no action was taken during the summer, Georgiev said.

Iskar district mayor Petar Kraev reported that Toplofikacia had registered a high frequency of breakdowns in the area. He clarified that the repairs would not disrupt heating for all residents for 90 days; instead, each group of blocks would experience service interruptions lasting between 10 and 15 days.

Toplofikacia Sofia is suspending heating services to Druzhba 2’s second, third, fourth, and fifth sectors to begin phased repairs on the area's heat transmission network. The company reports that frequent breakdowns and the poor technical condition of the existing infrastructure make the repairs necessary. The outage will impact 120 residential buildings.

Kraev said the district administration has asked Toplofikacia’s owner for details on possible compensation or additional support for affected residents. Further talks are planned with Sofia Municipality and the Minister of Energy. He noted that the administration’s primary responsibility is to oversee project completion within the agreed timeframe.

Earlier on Monday Executive Director of Toplofikacia Sofia Petar Petrov said that 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. The service will initially be stopped for the entire district for around three days while shut-off valves are installed, he explained.

On Saturday Energy Minister Zhecho Stankov said that 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.