The work of the crisis headquarters set up by the Government to clean Sofia's refuse has cost about 1.4 million leva, Sofia's regional governor Todor Modev, told a May 18 2009 conference.
 
The money will be covered by the state budget, Modev said.

The crisis headquarters was set up on April 9 2009 by the Government after it declared a state of emergency in Sofia over problems in refuse collection. Despite resistance from Sofia mayor Boiko Borissov - who saw this move as a Government plan to meddle in the city hall's affairs - the crisis headquarters operated for a month and three days.
 
The affair began when Novera, the city's refuse concessionaire, had its contract terminated by the city hall after it stopped cleaning the streets for a couple of days, saying it had not been properly paid.  With Novera out of the way the city hall sought the services - without a tender - of a number of refuse-collecting companies from other cities to clean Sofia. This led to delay and confusion and overflowing refuse bins for several days.
 
The Government then declared a state of emergency in Sofia and wrested control over refuse collection from the city hall. A month later the state of emergency was called off.
 
Now 70 per cent of the 1.4 million leva bill will be paid to Novera, Modev said.  He claimed that this was less than the amount the city hall was paying the companies who were currently collecting refuse.
 
Meanwhile, the Government came forward with a draft bill that would give it the power to govern refuse collection in municipalities in the future. The European Commission, on the other hand, expressed concerns that the draft bill could pose a threat to the construction of a refuse processing plant in Sofia, which is seen as the ultimate solution to the city’s refuse problems.