Keith,if businessmen cannot even get a shopping mall built here, what makes you think anyone would seriously think of trying to build a major automobile manufacturing facility. Businessmen in China are not enjoying the success that they have today by making bad decisions like building in an unfriendly business enviornment.

well said Keith. Too bad nobody gives a shit. More than 15 yrs of arguing about a waste plant and still they rather transport all of Sofian waste tp Plovdiv. Too many wrong people are involved. Would be very simple to just think people would just wake up one day and see the light, for once to do what's best for Bulgaria instead of just thinking of how to gain the best possible personal profit.

It is a pity that when we visited Sofia recently the only instances of development were seen in subservient consumerism enterprises such as this shopping area. Surely as your commentator Peter and your Rapporteurs have understood before this is not the way to buy Bulgaria out of the deepest recession in its history. Consumerism is as we all read the idea that personal happiness can be obtained through consumption, through the purchase of goods and services. It is often equated in the phrase supporting consumerism is "Money can buy happiness." But without money consumerism cannot exist. Surely what is needed [...]

Read the full comment is a methodology to re balance this emphasis and bring in the wealth creation first so that the unemployed can gain jobs and income and then spend that on consumer-based goods.

I have heard that a Company from China is interested in building a Fabrication Plant to construct Electrically Driven Cars and Vans Buses and Lorries in European Union and they were looking at the SE Europe area for this. Now as they are talking of manufacturing and assembling up to 1 million vehicles a year in Europe by 2016 in a development of €2000 million this must surely this is what all the emphasis should be placed towards. The benefits for Bulgaria in jobs alone for this project would be at least 3500 jobs directly here and may be considerably more. This is the sort of project which would put Bulgaria and Sofia on the Employment Map for Europe. And furthermore with the upstream and downstream jobs multiplier (of 6 times) factored in would generate over 20,000 permanent jobs.

In addition to this I also mentioned before there is another Company based in the UK which uses the gravity pressure vessel and hydrolysis which is very interested in sorting through Sofia's and all of Bulgaria's Waste programme which would also generate around 1000 jobs by converting this to the Biofuel Ethanol for Transport.

Wake Up Bulgaria and listen to this for it is these types of projects which would stimulate growth not Shopping Malls that are reliant on Consumerism.

220 mln Euro investment and only 5 000 Euro (10 000 BGN) fine??? Generally the fines in this country are ridiculously small. Fine them 1% of the investment and they won't even think of breaching the rules!!!

"Sofia mayor Yordanka Fandukova has issued an order freezing construction of Sofia's Serdika Center shopping mall"

Bravo, means the mall will never open in time! Fine the building company and stop bothering them.