Only streets used by Sofia public transport will be cleaned of snow this winter, Bulgarian-language Dnevnik daily said after a November 23 2009 meeting between newly elected Sofia mayor Yordanka Fandukova and snow-cleaning companies.

The city hall had 22 million leva earmarked for clearing snow this winter. This money, however, was insufficient for cleaning neighbourhood streets and so would only go towards major city thoroughfares and boulevards as well as the ring road.

Nevertheless, Fandukova said that the city hall was ready to react on an ad-hoc basis should an emergency situation arises.

She said that the city hall's goal was to secure public transport services during the winter. "The more Sofians take their motor vehicles out on a snowy day, the bigger the problem," she said.

The city hall also lacked money to clear snow from bus stops and underground passages, meaning that these facilities will have to be cleaned by refuse concessionaires.

Despite the lack of funds to keep the city free of snow, the city hall said they would not be caught unawares, Dnevnik said. "We know to a great extent the days and the hours when weather will be worse," city hall's Veska Georgieva said.

These - according to the city hall - were the days between December 4 and 7 2009. This forecast apparently came from the Air Force meteorological service, she said. Overall, the city hall could rely on 207 snow-cleaning machines and 82 trucks for removing snow from main streets.