Sofia municipality invited all interested citizens and legal entities to comment on the investment proposal for construction of the integrated system of installations for treating household refuse, or a refuse processing plant. The proposal is available for perusal in the city hall every weekday between 10am and noon and between 2pm and 4pm.

Citizens and companies may file their comments, objections and proposals until November 3, when the first public hearings on the investment proposal will take place in Sofia municipality and in the village of Yana near Sofia.

The next discussion between citizens and the state bodies will be on November 4 in the municipality of Kremikovtzi, the city said. The new refuse processing plant is planned to be constructed in the village of Yana and close to the village of Kremikovtzi, both in immediate vicinity of Sofia.

On October 1, the Public Environmental Centre for Sustainable Development (PECSD), based in Varna, said in a statement that the refuse processing plant meant to service Varna will be built without a valid environmental impact assessment and without public hearings. Varna Regional Inspectorate on Environment and Waters decided this, PECSD said.

The refuse processing plant will have a capacity of 450 tons a day and will be constructed on 1.7 hectares in the area Chakmak Bair in the village of Ezerovo. The project’s contracting authority is the company Ekoinvest Assets AD, which won the public tender and signed a contract with the local city hall in 2007.

PECSD claimed that since the contract was signed, not even one official from the local municipality appeared in the public space to explain why did the city hall choose exactly this company, where and on which way the plant will be constructed and whether it is safe for the people and the environment.