Residents of Sofia’s 'Druzhba 2' District Protest Planned Three-Month Heating Shutdown

Residents of the Druzhba 2 district in Sofia are bracing for the autumn-winter period with limited heating supply, following planned repairs on one of the city’s main heating pipelines. The announcement of a three-month interruption in heating and hot water has sparked protests among local residents.

For 90 Days: Parts of Sofia’s “Druzhba 2” District to Be Without Hot Water and Heating from October Until New Year

“No one had any idea this was happening. I assume there are people without air conditioning. The whole situation, in my view, is absurd. We can’t all suddenly switch to air conditioning, or rely on instant water heaters, while winter temperatures are below zero,” said Georgi Mitrov, a local resident.

“The most outrageous part is that we were informed only eight working days before the start of the repairs. How are we supposed to renovate our bathrooms and install water heaters in just eight days? Not to mention that the Druzhba network can’t handle such electricity demand. The power goes out here almost every night as it is,” added Desislava Vatsanova, another resident.

Petko Kraev, Mayor of the Iskar district, stressed that the repairs are unavoidable.

“Like all the residents, we only recently learned about this and immediately sought clarification. The director of the district heating company in Sofia met with us and explained that a procurement process had been ongoing to select the contractor for these works. The repairs are essential due to significant losses in the network and frequent failures in the area, with insufficient heating reaching Sofia’s higher districts. Emergency issues were already evident last year. I have been mayor for two and a half months, and during this period, we have received multiple emergency repair reports. If the work is postponed, the entire winter season would be affected by failures,” Kraev said.