There is no crisis, but there were definitely challenges with the quality of the service. This was commented by the mayor of Sofia Vasil Terziev on the air of “Wake up“ on Nova TV regarding waste management in the capital. According to him, the situation in the areas of “Poduyane“, “Izgrev“ and “Slatina“ already looks significantly better, and in the first two, phased implementation of cleaning, unclogging of manholes and washing has also begun.
In Sofia, the initially received offers for garbage collection were worth 1 billion and 100 million leva, but the municipality is moving towards concluding contracts within the range of 600-650 million leva for the relevant areas. According to him, this will save about 220 million euros (450 million leva) for citizens, while at the same time providing a better quality service, new equipment and garbage containers. Terziev specified that the contracts have not been terminated, but have expired and new procedures for selecting contractors are currently underway.
“We started with 10,000, over 10,000, it even reached 11,000, currently it has been reduced to under 7,000“, the mayor announced regarding the shortage of places in the capital's kindergartens and nurseries. He noted that the shortage for the first kindergarten group has been reduced to almost zero, which has been a main focus of the current administration.
According to him, the main problem remains in the nursery groups, where the unfilled places are just over 5,000. As a concomitant reason, Terziev pointed out the lack of nurses and the regulatory requirement for the presence of two medical personnel per group, which is why the municipality will insist on a change that would also allow pedagogical staff to take care of children of nursery age. The mayor added that 18 kindergartens have been put into operation since the beginning of the mandate, and another 10 are currently being built.
Regarding public transport, Vasil Terziev explained that an agreement has been reached with the unions to increase salaries, although to a smaller extent compared to previous years. He pointed out that long-term plans require support from the state budget for the period from 2027 to 2031 in order to be able to switch to a single-shift regime in schools. According to the mayor, the Sofia Municipality plans serious investments in modernization and acquisition of 145 new vehicles, including trams, electric buses, trolleybuses and buses.