The construction of "Government City", the ambitious project backed by Bulgaria's former socialist-led government of prime minister Sergei Stanishev, has been halted indefinitely in light of the global economic crisis, Stroitelstvo Gradut said on January 12 2010.

"Construction of the complex has been halted, and it will be resumed in better times," Regional Development Minister Rossen Plevneliev was quoted as saying.

"All financial matters with French architect Dominique Perrault have been taken care of," he said. Perrault won the contest for the project and his design was purchased for 300 000 euro. The money were transferred to Perrault at the end of 2009, according to Plevneliev.

The plans of Stanishev's government at the time were to relocate away from its present location in central Sofia and concentrate all government ministries and agencies in one place. This resulted in the mammoth project, which was estimated to cost billions of euro, even as the first tides of the global slump reached Bulgaria.

The scheme failed to seize the public's imagination, with many people viewing it as an unnecessary extravagance.

The plan envisioned for the new administrative complex to be built on a 26.4ha plot along Tsarigradsko Chaussee Boulevard, with a gross built up area exceeding 500 000 sq m. Public service and Government administration would have been allotted 120 000 sq m of this area.

The former government's aim was to transform this part of Sofia into a "secondary city centre revolving around a modern multi-functional government complex", the cabinet's press service said at the time.