Mayor Vasil Terziev must necessarily show how 31 million leva, a transitional balance under the Cleanliness Account Plan from 2023, were spent. This was stated by Ivan Takov, chairman of the BSP - Sofia and the group of the Local Coalition "BSP for Bulgaria" in the SOS. He insisted on this after at yesterday's regular session the deputy mayor in the "Green System, Ecology and Land Use" Department Nadezhda Bobcheva announced that for 2023 the revenues under the Cleanliness Account Plan amount to 263 million. BGN, and the expenses are BGN 232 million.
"Where are these BGN 31 million? What were they spent on? By law, the funds that Sofia Municipality collects from the municipal waste fee, including the shortfalls, can be used only and only for activities from the Cleanliness Account Plan. There is even a letter from the Court of Auditors about this, sent to the National Association of Municipalities in the Republic of Bulgaria, said Ivan Takov. - That is why I insist on receiving a report to the penny on what the 31 million BGN in question, the transitional balance, were used for this year. Immediately after the holidays, I will also send an official request to the mayor."
The group of the Local Coalition "BSP for Bulgaria" in the Municipal Council of the Republic of Bulgaria did not support the report on the Budget Plan for the activities of collection, transportation, disposal in landfills or other facilities of household waste and for maintaining the cleanliness of territories for public use for 2025, as well as the amount of the municipal waste fee for residential and non-residential properties of enterprises and citizens for 2025. "We have a municipal company, and in the local election campaign everyone said that they would support our request for a municipal company for cleanliness. And what happened in the first year of the mandate?! Did they take at least one step in this direction?! Why didn't they take action to build capacity in the existing municipal company so that next year it could take over the service of at least several of the districts in the municipality? They didn't, commented Ivan Takov. - And they expected us to support the Budget Plan for Cleanliness for 2025, in which they increased the funds for private waste cleaning companies to 210 million leva. And its total budget is already 303 million leva! We could not support such waste. I can already say that the city will remain dirty and dusty next year, despite the huge funds allocated for cleanliness. At least they should start washing the streets in Sofia more often, to stop with the insane and ridiculous decisions like the one about the low-emission zone in the city center.
Ivan Takov recalled that a few months ago, the municipal councilors from the group of the Local Coalition "BSP for Bulgaria" requested specific data related to the work of the Sofia Waste Treatment Plant (STP) near the village of Yana, then they insisted on hearing Mayor Terziev in connection with the construction of the third phase - the RDF fuel combustion installation - of the plant. So far, they have received neither information nor has the hearing been held. "How did they expect us to support the Cleanliness Budget Plan for next year?! We heard from the director of the waste plant that he had been negotiating with some companies for some technology in some place that he had chosen himself. This is so frivolous that there is nowhere else to go, said Ivan Takov. - The director of the plant does not have such powers. These are the mayor's personal duties. And he must be responsible for all such actions. The failure of the Sofia Municipality's management in the field of waste in Sofia has been striking for years. And this is written on the mayor's account, because by law he is directly responsible for this activity. And under Vasil Terziev, the failure is not just spectacular, but downright stressful. They were talking about a new approach, about transparency in management... They are trying to get away with some increased rates for landfilling. These are complete alibis! I am not just questioning these statements of theirs, but I am sure that they are not true. The truth will come out at some point and we will all see how false these numbers were. The only true and reliable numbers are those over 20 million leva per year of Sofia residents' money that the Sofia Municipality pays to transport this garbage all over the country and burn it".