How long will Sofia residents continue to cover the losses of "Heating-Sofia" and endure the inconvenience of unceremoniously planning repairs? Emilia Milcheva about the scandals in Sofia, the drought in Bulgaria and more outrages.
During the hottest time of the year, half of Sofia is without hot water. Of course, this question will immediately find its answer: “Come on, you yellow-coated grumblers, there are places where people have been on the water regime for years, they buy non-stop bottled water, you roar for hot water”. In the Stara Zagorje village of Strelets, for example, the local people have water once every few days, and there are no water carriers. The municipality of Pleven is on a water regime, and in the Blagoevgrad village of Gospodintsi, there is water in one part of the village during the daylight hours, and in the dark - the other. And in the whole of Bulgaria, there are over 400,000 people on the water regime, almost as many as the subscribers of the capital's heating system - nearly 450,000, who use heating and/or hot water.
To facilitate the monopolist
Like any monopolist, the municipal company simply notifies its subscribers a few weeks before stopping the heat supply due to “prevention and planned repairs”. There are no problems from lawsuits, since a clause in the contract stipulates that the subscriber is obliged to have an alternative source of hot water and heating - precisely so that the company does not cover damages caused by accidents and preventive maintenance. Probably few of the subscribers have provided themselves with boilers, most rely on heaters - or use cold water. But no one doubts the need for prevention and repairs to be done right at this moment.
Due to the old and worn pipes, the network of “Toplofikatsia Sofia“ needs repairs, but interesting discoveries were made for this activity. Two months ago, Boris Bonev, leader of “Save Sofia”, a partner of PP-DB in the management of the capital, revealed that the head of "Toplofikatsia" Alexander Alexandrov signed contracts for repairs and other activities in the company, which were then subcontracted for the execution of companies to the woman with whom he is in de facto cohabitation. Along with her company, another also emerged, which also won orders for “Heating”, related to the former municipal councilor from GERB Orlin Alexiev. According to the leader of “Save Sofia” about 80 percent of the public procurement contracts of “Heating-Sofia” are concluded with this company.
Inefficient and subsidized
How long will Sofians continue to cover the losses of “Heating-Sofia“ and suffer the inconvenience of inefficient planning of repair works? Despite the subsidized electricity that “Heating-Sofia” sells at preferential prices, continues not to pay for natural gas - and is its largest consumer in Bulgaria. Almost a third of the deliveries of blue fuel - about 1.2 billion cubic meters - is for the capital company, which keeps accumulating losses.
The liabilities to BEH exceed BGN 1.6 billion, and with such enormous debts, the entry of a private investor to rehabilitate the company is practically impossible. (Their purchase by the state was stopped by the caretaker government of Dimitar Glavchev.) This is the result of outdated infrastructure, inefficient management and the lack of sufficient investment in modernization.
Alexandrov resigned, but the management change was carried out with the votes of GERB, BSP, ITN, the breakaways from “Vazrazhdane”, Carlos Contrera from VMRO and exceptions from PP-DB-“Save Sofia” Blagovest Georgiev. This majority in the SOS thwarted the plans of the mayor Vasil Terziev and for the management of five more key municipal companies - “Center for Urban Mobility”, “Metropolitan Electric Transport”, “Metropolitan Motor Transport”, “Metropolitan” and “Softinvest”.
This resistance indicates that everything will go on as before. Terziev's promises, given in the election campaign, for better service, will remain there. The examples of other European capitals such as Vienna, where such renovations are carefully planned and carried out with minimal disruption to services, show that it is possible to ensure a continuous heat supply even during the summer months. There, consumers are rarely without hot water for more than a few hours or a day.
Everyone pays their debts
In Bulgaria, all taxpayers, paying the debts of the capital heating company several times over the years, subsidize the cheap heating of Sofians - and the distribution schemes of public procurement.
For the new power of “Moscow” 33 remains an ice bucket.
This comment expresses the personal opinion of the author and may not coincide with the positions of the Bulgarian editorial team and DV as a whole.