BELENE DEBRIS
Russia’s Atomstroyexport, hired to build a new nuclear power capacity at the Danube town of Belene, should begin, on July 30, to dismantle the equipment and other structures on the site of the project mothballed in the early 1990s, Bulgaria’s Economy Ministry said as quoted by dnevnik.bg. The Russian company is in talks to hire a contractor to remove concrete structures on the site. Bulgaria’s Enemona and Russia’s Ovex are contesting the contract.

RECYCLE
Varna-based company Mega Group said it would invest around 100 million euro over the next few years in a plant for the recycling of oil and petroleum products waste in the town of Smyadovo, eastern Bulgaria. Bulgaria’s investment agency (BAI) awarded the project a first-class investor certificate on July 23. The plant is scheduled to begin operation in October 2008 with an initial annual capacity of 180 000 tons, reaching up to 1.5 million tons by 2010.

DUNDEE CASE
Sofia’s city prosecutor’s office started an investigation against the Environment and Water Affairs Minister Djevdet Chakurov for alleged abuse of power, Bulgarian daily Dnevnik said. The investigation started after a tip-off from Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria in late 2007. The source of the information was said to have been the monitoring prosecutor Kalin Sofiyanski. Chakurov was allegedly investigated over the case of Dundee Precious Metals. The Canadian firm has waited two years for approval of Dundee’s environmental impact assessment from the Ministry of Environment and Water Affairs.

TV
Central European Media Enterprises (CME) announced on July 28 that it had entered into an agreement that would give it an 80 per cent interest in two Bulgarian TV stations. The two stations are TV2, established in November 2007, and cable sports television station Ring TV. The agreement between CME and Top Tone Media Holdings Limited was expected to be worth about $172 million (110.2 million euro).

GERMAN CLIENT
Flotski Arsenal, the shipyard part of state-owned defence company Terem, said it is in talks to build a series of non self-propelled vessels for an unnamed German client. The business-end of the negotiations will not be visible before late August. The company, which posted a net profit of 1.171 million leva in 2007, repairs 30 to 40 vessels annually.