Sofia should not bow to the racketeering it is currently being subjected to. This was said by the chairman of the "Save Sofia" group Boris Bonev at a briefing at the Sofia Municipal Council (SOC) on the topic of the public procurement for waste collection in Sofia and the crisis organization with the garbage cleaning in "Lyulin" and "Krasno Selo".
It came into force on October 3 in the metropolitan areas due to the refusal of the Sofia Municipality to sign a contract with the only remaining participant in the public procurement, who offered a price of 420 leva per ton.
Boris Bonev said that regardless of what political differences they have with Mayor Vasil Terziev, this is a battle that must be fought together. The only way for Sofia not to be a hostage to racketeering and private companies that drain the budget is to build municipal capacity, such as in the "Waste and Cleaning" sector This argument is especially valid, given that Sofia is currently 100% dependent on private companies, Bonev said.
We will no longer postpone decisions and what depends on us as the legislative body of the Sofia Municipality, we have done it, by yesterday submitting to the SOS registry a report on the granting of a loan in the amount of three million leva to the municipal company "Sofekostroy", Bonev announced. The report explicitly states that these funds can only be used for the purchase of equipment and garbage cans. We are giving a 24-month grace period and low interest because we do not believe that the municipal economy should be additionally burdened with expenses, Bonev said.
He added that yesterday from "Save Sofia" have sent a signal to the Commission for the Protection of Competition to carry out an immediate inspection of the tenders for the cleaning of Sofia, as they have noticed specific actions there, which, according to Bonev, are very reminiscent of rigged orders. It was about companies that were removed in some areas for technical reasons, but in another area they were not removed for technical reasons, as well as companies that set extremely similar prices, said the municipal councilor.
According to "Save Sofia", the companies participating in these tenders most likely made a preliminary agreement to allocate markets, which means less competition, and less competition means higher prices, said Boris Bonev.
He refuted information spread in the public domain that the municipal company "Sofekostroy" categorically refused to carry out garbage collection actions and activities after they were assigned to it by the mayor. Nothing like that, on October 3, a response was sent by the municipal company, in which they believe that despite the short deadlines, they will be ready to fully and in any way cooperate in order to solve the problem of the crisis, said Boris Bonev.
Regarding information that in "Lyulin" and "Borovo" waste is deliberately dumped by trucks and carts in order to accumulate even more waste there and to obtain landfills, Bonev said that Sofia is surrounded by cameras. If true, this is not just an outrage, not only a crime, but it is clear proof that the mafia is ready to do anything to maintain its control over Sofia's waste. We insist that the cameras be immediately reviewed and the recordings - published, so that we can all see how these trucks and carts unload waste from the "Borovo" neighborhood, Bonev noted.