Thu, Nov 05 2009

The 4.27 million leva reconstructions aim to reduce traffic accidents and improve access to Pernik's distant boroughs
Sofia prosecutors filed the bill of indictment against Vesselin Georgiev, the former head of the National Road Infrastructure Fund (NRIF), on January 15 2009, almost a year he was accused of in corruption in an investigation by Bulgarian-language weekly Kapital. In January 2008, the weekly reported that Georgiev was involved in a serious conflict of interest. His younger brother, Emil Georgiev, and the company he ran, Binder, had been assigned work worth 120 million leva of EU funds by the NRIF. Furthermore, Vesselin Georgiev himself was a former director at Binder.
Three days before the December 11 and 12 Brussels summit at which the European Union hammered out a new deal on a package of measures to fight global warming, the Ecodesign Regulatory Committee announced its endorsement of a European Commission decision to phase out traditional light bulbs by 2012. The decision is part of the 20 per cent energy consumption-cut target that the EU has set itself for 2020. But before it becomes effective, the phase-out has to be approved by the European Parliament.
Usually, it is people with low incomes who suffer from inadequately heated homes. But often, so-called energy poverty occurs because of inferior housing quality. In Bulgaria this means poor insulation and draft-proofing as well as substandard heating equipment. The seventh national energy efficiency conference, hosted by the state Energy Efficiency Agency in Sofia on October 30, corroborated all these perceptions.
Businesses in South Eastern Europe should be more strongly engaged in trans-national development projects, Regional Co-operation Council (RCC) secretary-general Hido Biscevic said at a meeting in Istanbul on October 30 2008.
A fortnight after construction began on Bulgaria's second nuclear power plant at Belene, the Government is launching another large-scale initiative. In a surprise motion on September 19, it registered Bulgarian Energy Holding (BEH). The suddenness of the move sparked media speculation that this was a deliberate move to conceal unregulated sales between
By the end of 2008 contracts for 200 million euro will have been concluded under the European Union (EU) operational programme Regional Development, Deputy Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Iskra Mihailova said during a meeting in Rousse on September 4. After concluding the contracts, Bulgaria would fulfil its financial engagements for the second year of EU membership within this
Office rent transactions peaked at 65 000 sq m between July and September 2008, but collapsed to 10 700 sq m in Q3 2009, Forton manager Sergei Koinov said.
Most potential buyers are now opting to buy a luxury flat in the range of 120 000 to 150 000 euro or a single family home for about 500 000 euro.
About 30 000 to 35 000 people employed in the construction sector were facing redundancies in 2010, Bulgaria's Regional Development Minister Rossen Plevneliev said on October 26.
Average market prices of housing in Bulgaria dropped five per cent in July-September, measured quarter-on-quarter, the National Statistical Institute said on October 23 2009.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has released a 43.5 million euro loan to Sofia Municipality, for infrastructure projects worth 88.1 million euro in total