Sofia's Waste Crisis: Selection of Turkish Firm Sparks Tension in the City's Municipal Council

A consortium with the participation of a Turkish company will collect rubbish in the Sofia districts of Ilinden, Nadezhda and Serdika from next year. It was the only bidder for Zone 4. The decision, however, has provoked discontent among some municipal councillors, with the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP) gathering information in order to refer the matter to the relevant authorities.

Both companies in the consortium are registered at the same address in Sofia’s Vitosha district. When a BNT team visited the site today, November 3 only security staff were present. They explained that the owner of one of the firms was travelling to Turkey and therefore unavailable for comment, but confirmed that this was indeed the address of both companies.

So, questions such as how many trucks the company owns — after four of them were set on fire over the summer — and whether it has enough staff to clean the districts of Nadezhda, Ilinden and Serdika from January remain unanswered for now.

The Bulgarian company, Easy Eco Clean, was registered on 1 April this year. The owner is linked to several other firms, none of which deal with rubbish collection. The Commercial Register states that its activities include collecting, transporting and storing all types of solid, liquid, chemical and medical waste. The company has capital of 1,000 BGN and no recorded employees.

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The second company, Turkey’s Norm Sanayi, which has a branch in Sofia, was registered on 16 April at the same address. Its declared activities are the collection, transport and storage of waste. The public procurement procedure for waste management that the consortium won dates from 26 March, and was only officially published by the Public Procurement Agency on 5 June.

Some municipal councillors are unhappy with the choice of contractor.

Enyo Savov, BSP municipal councillor: “The truth is that, firstly, it is not entirely Turkish, and secondly, we are not clear whether it has the capacity to fulfil these functions. We are currently gathering information to refer the matter to the competent authorities, so it can be established whether the company can perform its duties and maintain cleanliness in Sofia with sufficient quality of the service.”

Independent councillor Vanya Grigorova also expressed concern.

Vanya Grigorova, independent municipal councillor: “Here is the estimated cost of Sofia Municipality — 166.67 BGN. This is the price from the Turkish company — 179.14 BGN. The Turkish company’s price is over 45 million BGN, compared with 42 million for the municipality. In one of the documents they claim it is 60 million, to make it appear that the Turkish company’s offer is lower, which is categorically untrue.”

Representatives from 'We Continue the Change' defended the choice of consortium.

Bonka Vasileva, 'We Continue the Change – Democratic Bulgaria' municipal councillor: “It meets the economic requirements we set for the company that will clean this zone. It is slightly below or above — we understand that it offers 179 BGN. Yes, 200 is the projected price set by Sofia Municipality — that is the benchmark around which bids should be submitted for the zones.”

“I can tell you that the Turkish branch of this firm has carried out cleaning in a city like Istanbul.”

The BNT team sought comment from Mayor Vasil Terziev but received no response. Officials said that anyone with concerns about the selected contractor may refer the matter to the Commission for Protection of Competition (CPC). In a statement to BNT, the commission confirmed that no complaints have been received to date. The decision may be appealed within 10 days.