Sofia Chief Architect, Petar Dikov, said the city will be building a tram and metro car factory over its growing public transportation needs. Photo by BGNES
Sofia is planing to build a plant for the production of tram and metro cars, the city's Chief Architect, Petar Dikov, announced Thursday.
Dikov said the plant will be located near the tram garage at the "Gara Iskar" district of Sofia.
The Chief Architect pointed out Sofia really needs such production since the expansion of the rail public transportation is a priority for the City Hall. The capital will require 50 more new metro compositions and about 100 to 200 new tram cars in the next five years, Dikov said, adding the Bulgarian market would be sufficient for the realization of the plant's production, but it could also be sold elsewhere in Eastern Europe.
Currently the tram factory that is the closest to Bulgaria is the one in Zagreb, but it sells its production mostly on the Western market, Dikov explained.
The Chief Architect stated that the future plant could be built by joint municipal and private investments. The City Hall will provide the land and part of the money, while a private company will build the plant and supply the equipment.
Until recently Sofia had a municipal tram factory "Tramcar," but it was shut down. The City Hall plans to sell the land. Dikov said that "Tramcar" had been an ersatz factory that could not be renovated.