"I don't know how impressed I am by the opinion of couch tigers about the garbage crisis. What is important to know is that an annex has been signed for garbage transportation and collection for all zones, except for the third zone. The garbage problem will be solved". This was stated by Sofia Mayor Vasil Terziev at a briefing to journalists about the garbage crisis in the capital, quoted by news.bg. He made his comment after presenting the municipality's strategy for the development of kindergartens and nurseries until 2027.
Terziev explained that an annex has been signed for zone 2 - "Iskar", "Pancharevo" and "Kremikovtzi" and there are no problems expected there with the provision of garbage collection and garbage removal. For the moment, an annex has been signed, so there are no problems there, the mayor assured.
There is also no problem for zone 4, which includes "Ilinden", Nadezhda" and "Serdika", because the garbage collection of the neighboring zones has been assigned. The only problematic zone is zone 3 - "Poduyane", "Slatina" and "Izgrev", and we are working there with the clear commitment to have a final decision by the end of the month, Terziev emphasized.
He pointed out that the big fight is for 400 million, a difference of almost 100 million between what the Sofia Municipality is trying to achieve and what the Municipality would have paid if it had accepted the initial offers. "I and the others did our job to protect the pockets of Sofia residents from paying the bill, because if we hadn't done it, everyone would have had health problems in the end,", Terziev pointed out.
He emphasized that he does not accept mafia tactics such as burning trucks and other forms of pressure to force us to sign contracts at prices that are unacceptable. "I do not use epithets about who is mafia and who is not. There is God, a court, a prosecutor's office and someone to give assessments", Terziev noted. And he appealed to the media to ask the leader of "Save Sofia" who he meant by "mafia" for garbage.
He called on citizens to change their garbage disposal habits and to change their habits. "All these views show that half of the things in the gray bins can go into the colored containers," said Terziev. And he added that the sooner we start disposing separately, the better it will be for everyone.
Vasil Terziev asked what the purpose of declaring a state of emergency because of garbage. The disaster situation will only help to ensure easier signing of contracts with contractors and companies, the mayor added.
Terziev also noted that it sounds "very easy in theory" to cancel the garbage fee for the capital's "Lyulin" district. He assured that there are additional people and teams that clean up the garbage.
When asked by News.bg what the communication is with the mayor of "Lyulin" Georgi Todorov and whether he is providing assistance in resolving the garbage crisis, Terziev said that there is no infinitely good communication and when help needs to be given and something needs to be done, it is done without his participation.
"I apologize to everyone for the inconvenience caused, I do not enjoy having this conversation with you and the citizens, but we are talking about several hundred million. If everyone is so rich and has no problem paying them, maybe I made a mistake by taking on this fight. I think this is the protection of public interests and these few months of inconvenience should help us think about what and how we throw away", Terziev said.
He assured that the municipality will sort out everything related to garbage, will conclude the necessary contracts, normal garbage collection, winter and summer cleaning will be restored, but we must change our habits and start recycling waste.