Mayor Terziev submitted a report yesterday to solve the problem of garbage collection in Sofia. Despite all the statements that he made that he will not give in to the racket, Mr. Terziev has not terminated the public procurement. With officially sent proposals for correction of the report, I insist that the public procurement be terminated, that funds be allocated to the municipal company and that the activity be taken over by "Sofekostroy“. In full. This is stated by the independent municipal councilor in the SOS Vanya Grigorova in a statement sent to the media. Here is more of Grigorova's opinion on the garbage crisis in the capital: .
Two districts of the capital - – "Lyulin" and "Krasno Selo", are in a crisis with garbage collection and disposal, after within the framework of the public procurement announced by the Sofia Municipality, offers were received from various companies with prices many times higher than the estimated price. A review of the submitted price offers shows that all submitted offers are above the municipality's estimated price – 166.67 leva excluding VAT for the activity "Collection and transportation of waste from containers to a treatment facility".
As of October 5, 2025, garbage collection in these two areas went into emergency mode, Mayor Terziev called on citizens to show understanding and cooperate in order to avoid an increase in the "garbage" fee. At the same time, the public procurement has not yet been terminated, and over the past two years, the capacity of the municipal company "Sofekostroy" has not been strengthened to enable it to take on additional areas. There is a sense of impasse and fears of the crisis escalating.
In view of the current situation, and similar events in previous years, I believe that the time has come to begin a process of returning municipal services, including garbage collection, to municipal hands, as the experience of a number of European capitals shows. Sofia Municipality should prepare for the transition to a system of garbage collection by a municipal company, which will allow it to avoid a number of negative phenomena such as extortion by investors through unprofitable and speculative financial offers; fictitious competitions with prior negotiation of participants in them or forcible refusal of such; last but not least, it will also contribute to the fight against the shadow economy.
There is not only an economic necessity for making such a decision. It is heard, it will also gather public support. The Mayor of Sofia Municipality will receive a strong management tool that will allow him to manage processes, and not to act in an emergency mode or justify himself with actions and inactions of external factors.
At the meeting of the PC for Environmental Protection, Agriculture and Forests held on October 7, 2025, the Deputy Mayor for Ecology Ms. Nadezhda Bobcheva announced that Sofia Municipality will not sign contracts with a price higher than the estimated price in public procurement 00087-2025-0113 “Collection and transportation of waste, cleaning and maintenance of streets and public places on the territory of Sofia Municipality under seven separate positions“. The Mayor of Sofia Municipality Mr. Vasil Terziev made statements in the same sense that “he will not bend to attempts to twist the hands of Sofia residents by economic groups“. However, the public procurement has not yet been terminated, and conditions have not been created for the municipal company to take over the garbage collection.
The report proposed to us by Mr. Vasil Terziev nowhere mentions that the funds will be provided by the Sofia Municipality. In fact, we are being asked to grant permission to "Sofekostroy" EAD to use its own funds to purchase equipment, and these are funds that the company does not currently have. In addition, the report proposed to us by Mr. Terziev nowhere mentions that the additional equipment aims to avoid pressure from private entities on Sofia residents and that garbage collection and waste disposal in the Sofia districts of "Lyulin" and "Krasno Selo" will be assigned to a municipal company.
In order to assist Mr. Terziev in the fight to protect the public interest, I propose amendments and supplements to the decision he submitted. According to these supplements, he should terminate the public procurement, Sofia Municipality should provide 9 million leva excluding VAT to "Sofekostroy" for equipment and within one month to prepare a schedule for all other areas of Sofia to be taken over by the municipal company.