site.btaNational Company Industrial Zones Executive Director Palaveev Discusses Enterprise's Development

Since the beginning of 2023, there has been constant interest on the part of local and foreign investors in projects managed by the National Company Industrial Zones EAD (NCIZ), particularly on the part of Asian companies. Investors from Germany and Turkiye have traditionally shown great interest in implementing projects in Bulgaria, said NCIZ Executive Director Konstantin Palaveev in a BTA interview. 

Palaveev was asked for a comment in connection with expiring deadlines for the implementation of assigned activities for the rehabilitation of state-owned companies by the Minister of Economy and Industry Bogdan Bogdanov.

The NCIZ Executive Director explained that his team is in constant correspondence with interested companies. This year four new Bulgarian companies have joined with projects worth a total of BGN 20 million. Additionally, projects of six other companies are in the stage of preliminary negotiations. For the same period of 2022, four final investment contracts had been concluded, he pointed out.

Palaveev said that currently the company's business programme is being updated in accordance with the approved Policy for State Participation in Public Enterprises. He expects that the financial and non-financial indicators set in the programme will be fulfilled and that the company will build on the positive trend from last year, which, despite several changes in management, had been evaluated as "very good". 

Palaveev added that at the end of July 2023, when he was elected as Executive Director of the company, the NCIZ had BGN 34 million, the majority of which was intended to cover expenses for the implementation of infrastructure projects under contracts concluded by the company's previous management, mainly in the Sofia-Bojurishte Industrial Park. However, given the optimization of costs, as well as the active work in recent months, his expectations for 2023 are that the company will once again realize a positive financial result, Palaveev added.

The NCIZ applied two projects under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan, one for infrastructure leading to the Sofia-Bojurishte Industrial Park, and the other for internal infrastructure in Vidin Industrial Park. A procedure under the Concept for Integrated Territorial Investments (CITI), financed through a grant from the European funds for the period 2021-2027, in partnership with the Municipality of Karlovo, has also been launched, and the company's goal is to receive support for the development of an Industrial Park in Karlovo, Palaveev added.